#Value with true blank cells

[JoeK210185]

Hello

I've got a formula =SUM(C3+H3+M3+R3+W3+AB3+AG3+AL3+AQ3+AV3)

Pretty simple, but if say, H3, was a blank cell, it is returning a #VALUE!

Now i know it has to be a true blank cell, which it is, but if i put in a random figure, lets jsut say 1, then the formula works out, if i then delete the 1, the formula still says working, even though it is exactly the same as it was before, with the same figures in each cell an the same cells being true blanks?

I'm just looking for anyone who may be able to help me!

Oh, and on my options, calculation is on automatic

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

There's no point in using SUM with plus signs. You get the same result as without it. Use it like this:

=SUM(C3,H3,M3,R3,W3,AB3,AG3,AL3,AQ3,AV3)

and text entries will be ignored.

 

[Colin Legg]

My guess is that there was a space (ie. text) in H3, so it wasn't truly empty. The SUM() function doesn't actually do anything in your formula, since you are using the + operator to add them all together anyway. If you change your formula to this then it won't error if a cell contains a space:

=SUM(C3,H3,M3,R3,W3,AB3,AG3,AL3,AQ3,AV3)

 

[JoeK210185]

My guess is that there was a space (ie. text) in H3, so it wasn't truly empty. The SUM() function doesn't actually do anything in your formula, since you are using the + operator to add them all together anyway. If you change your formula to this then it won't error if a cell contains a space:

=SUM(C3,H3,M3,R3,W3,AB3,AG3,AL3,AQ3,AV3)

Yes it was truly empty Colin, as i stated in the opening post.

And Andrew thanks, that worked.

 

[Colin Legg]

Hi Joe,

Yes it was truly empty Colin, as i stated in the opening post.

Sorry to contradict you (and I emphasise that I am not trying to be impolite in doing so, rather just trying to identify the cause of the problem) but, if H3 was truly empty, then AFAIK it is absolutely impossible that H3 would have caused that formula to return a #VALUE! error. If you can prove otherwise with a simple demonstration then I would be interested to see it!