This works to have blanks count as zeros when entered as an array formula
with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
=AVERAGE(IF(ISBLANK(A1:E1),0,A1:E1))
Adjust to taste
Best wishes
--
Bernard Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme

"John D" wrote in message
...
I have a range of cells for which I want to calculate standard deviation -
*including* blank cells. Example, if (D8:AD:8) has numbers in 20 columns
and
blanks in 6 columns, I want the formula to interpret those 6 blanks as
"0".

The data is being imported from a large database and the data set being
imported will vary. I suppose I could somehow force all blank cells to be
"0"
when imported, but I'd prefer not.

Any other way? Thanks - John D