On Jul 31, 10:36*pm, Shree wrote:
if((X)*(Y),A,B); what is the role of *.

Multiply. You can find an explanation of Excel operators by looking
at the Help page for "About calculation operators". If you truly do
not understand what "*" means in this context, you would benefit from
a book on the basics of Excel.

However, I wonder if your real question is: how can X*Y result in
true or false?

The answer is: if(X*Y,...) is shorthand for if(X*Y < 0,...). Zero
is considered FALSE, and nonzero is considered TRUE.