What does -- symbol mean in an excel formulae eg: SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke
 

Consider the formulae =SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker"),--(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)

What does -- mean in front of --(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker")
and --(B1:B10="West")

What does -- symbol mean in an excel formulae eg: SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker"),--(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)
 

Hi,

Am Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:48:28 -0700 (PDT) schrieb :

Consider the formulae =SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker"),--(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)

What does -- mean in front of --(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker")
and --(B1:B10="West")

-- changes TRUE to 1 and FALSE to 0 so that SUMPRODUCT can calculate the
values. You can see it if you select a cell with that formula and choose
Formula = Formula auditing


Regards
Claus B.
--
Win XP PRof SP2 / Vista Ultimate SP2
Office 2003 SP2 /2007 Ultimate SP2

What does -- symbol mean in an excel formulae eg: SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker"),--(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)
 

"Claus Busch" wrote:
Am Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:48:28 -0700 (PDT) schrieb :
Consider the formulae
=SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker"),--(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)
What does -- mean in front of --(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker")
and --(B1:B10="West")

-- changes TRUE to 1 and FALSE to 0 so that SUMPRODUCT can
calculate the values.

But note that there is nothing sacrosanct about double-negative (--). Any
arithmetic operation will treat TRUE and FALSE as the numbers 1 and 0.

So, for example, s.b.bhor's formula could be written:

=SUMPRODUCT((A1:A10="Luke Skywalker")*(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)

Many people do not realize that. So they add double-negative unnecessarily,
to wit:



=SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A10="Luke Skywalker")*(B1:B10="West"),D1:D10)