Having Blank Cells, etc. ?

[Bob]

Hello,

Thanks for previous help.

a. Sometimes when I open up a new spreadsheet, the column Headings come
up as labeled: A, B, C,... which is what I want.

Other times, its: 1,2,3,... which is what I don't.

What determines ? What is significance, etc. ?

b. I have a computation in, e.g., Column C, Row 10, which uses the
previous result in Column C, Row 9 summed with whatever is in Row 9,
Columns A and B

Sometimes Columns A and B are just empty.

But the formula grabs what is in the previous Row and Column C.

Thus for blanks in Columns A and B (for any Row), a value appears in
Column C.

For cases where A and B have nothing in them, I would like Column C to
show a blank.

My present formula does not allow this, as it uses the previous Row
value in Column C all the time.

How do I get around this, please ?
An "IF" statement the easiest, or is there a better way ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[zvkmpw]

a. Sometimes when I open up a new spreadsheet, the column Headings come

up as labeled: A, B, C,... which is what I want.

Other times, its: 1,2,3,... which is what I don't.

What determines ? What is significance, etc. ?

It's determined by the check box:
File > Options > Formulas > R1C1 reference style
(I have Excel 2010.) Historically, some software products used A1 in formulas; others used R1C1 (for row 1 column 1) for the same thing. Excel gives users the choice.

b. I have a computation in, e.g., Column C, Row 10, which uses the
previous result in Column C, Row 9 summed with whatever is in Row 9,
Columns A and B
Sometimes Columns A and B are just empty.
For cases where A and B have nothing in them, I would like Column C to
show a blank.

One way is an IF statement such as:
=IF(A9&B9="","",C9+A9+B9)
In this case, C10 would behave like zero in a numeric formula.

A different way is to use conditional formatting to make C10 look blank, even though the numeric value is still present. To look blank, make the font white (or whatever the background color is) using the conditional formula:
=A9&B9=""
In this case, C10 contains the value from C9, and can be used as such in numeric formulas.