Formula To Keep Certain Cells Blank

[Dave]

I have a small payment record. Example. Cell A1 - Shows Original Balance -
Cell B1 - Shows Date Paid - C1 - Shows Amount Paid - Cell D1 - Shows
Remaining Balance.

As a payment is received, I insert the date received (B1) and the amount
received (C1). My existisng formula then subtracts C1 (amount paid) from A1
(original balance) and shows this amount in Cell D1. Pretty straight forward.
Problem.

Since the subtraction formula for these two cells are located in Cells D1 -
D12 (example), the existing balance is shown in all the cells all the way
down to D cell's. I want all cells left blank in the D cells until I enter an
amount paid in the C cells. Currently the existisng balance is shown in all
the D cells.

I hope this makes sense.

Thank you,
Dave

 

[Gary''s Student]

Suppose the formula in D3 is:

=D2-C3

Basically the old balance less the new payment. Instead use:

=IF(C3="","",D2-C3)

The formula will be invisible until the data has been entered in column C.

 

[Gaurav]

=IF(C1="","",C1-A1)

Does that help?

 

[Dave]

Works perfectly. Thank you both very much. Interesting since I asked this
same question to the instructor of the Excel 2007 class I am taking and the
instructor did not know the answer.

 

[David Biddulph]

Sounds as if you deserve your money back for that class. :-(

 

[Gaurav]

I strongly agree.

Sounds as if you deserve your money back for that class. :-(

 

[Dave]

Would I be correct in assuming that "","", means "blank" anytime it is
inserted in a formula? As far as the class goes, it is a strictly by the
classbook instruction with guidance only from the instructor while we do each
exercise from the book on the computer. I do feel the instructor should have
known the answer however. Again thank you all very much. The primary reason I
took this course was to learn "formulas" and how to create them. I suspect I
will lose on that end. Again, thank each and everyone of you.

 

[David Biddulph]

It's not "","", but "" that means blank. Quote marks "" are used to delimit
a text string, and if there is nothing between the quote marks the string
has zero length (which isn't quite the same as an empty cell, but for many
purposes they are close enough).