The first thing to do with any Excel problem is figure out how to do it
manually. Then you can translate it into Excel. In your case,
Sales = OpeningInventory + Purchases - ClosingInventory

Now translate this into Excel:
=c3+d3-e3

And extend for the entire year:
=c3+d3-e3+e3+f3-g3+g3+h3-i3+i3+j3-k3

The intermediate inventories cancel out, so your final formula would be:
=c3+d3+f3+h3+j3-k3

It looks to me that your formula is trying to handle cases where the
inventory count is zero. You'll need to decide whether that's relevant, and
if so, adjust your requirements accordingly.

Regards,
Fred

"Neal" wrote in message
...
I am unable to figure out how to get the formula below to work properly. It
is for figuring out the amount of product sold for the year where B3=cost
of
item,C3=starting inventory on Jan 1st, D3=inventory purchased between Jan.
1st and 3/31, E3=inventory on 3/31, F3=inventory purchased between Apr.
1st
and 6/30, G3=inventory on 6/30, H3=inventory purchased between Jul. 1st
and
9/30, I3=inventory on 9/30, J3=inventory purchased between Oct. 1st and
12/30, and K3=ending inventory on 12/31. The formula help for excel is
very
poor and confusing. It will not actually tell me what the specific problem
is, nor how to fix it.

=SUM(B3*(C3+D3(-(IF(AND(E3=0,G3<0),E3,0))),(IF(AND(G3=0,I3<0),(+ F3-G3),0)),(IF(AND(I3=0,K<0),(+F3+H3-I3),0)),(IF(K3=0),(+F3+H3+J3-K3),0)))