Why does blank cell assume value = 1?

[C]

I have created a simple =product formula that calculates the value of one
cell multiplie by a certain value. i.e. =product(h10,.5) The formula works
fine, but when h10 refers to a blank cell, it assumes the value is 1. I want
it to assume nothing really, but in reality I want it to assume 0, rather
than 1.

Help?

 

[Joe User]

I have created a simple =product formula that
calculates the value of one cell multiplie by a
certain value. i.e. =product(h10,.5)

Why not simply write:

=H10*0.5

And in case H10 might be text (notably the null string):

=N(H10)*0.5

if you want text to be treated as zero. (Sounds like you would.)

The formula works fine, but when h10 refers to a
blank cell, it assumes the value is 1. I want it to
assume nothing really, but in reality I want it to
assume 0, rather than 1.

PRODUCT does not work that way. Read the Help page. It states that PRODUCT
__ignores__ empty cells and cells containing text (notably the null string,
which makes the cell appear empty), among others. "Ignores" means that
PRODUCT does not include the cell in its evaluation. It does not mean that
it treats the cell as 1 (or 0, for that matter).

There is a contorted way to fix this. But I don't know why you would
bother. Okay:

=PRODUCT(if(H1="",0,H1),0.5)

Please don't do that.

 

[Don Guillett]

=IF(LEN(TRIM(H10))>0,PRODUCT(H10,0.5),"")