Extra comma at the end of a function
 

I have the following simple funtion in a spreadsheet and noticed that it did
not produce the anticipated result when checking my numbers:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41,)

The comma after the B41 cell seems to produce a different answer than
anticipated and correct answer is produced when the comma is removed:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41)

How is the last comma in the first function affecting the calculation? Is
it including other cells, or is it ignoring cells in the function?

Thanks,

Scott

Extra comma at the end of a function
 

The extra comma creates an additional value of 0 for the AVERAGE function.
AVERAGE is the Sum of the listed values divided by the Count of the listed
values. In this case, the Sum remains the same, since you're only adding 0,
but the count is increased by 1.

Let's say your values on your "specimen data" sheet are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and
7. The sum of this range is 28. Divided by the number of values, 7. The
AVERAGE would be 4.

But, adding that extra comma, you now have the values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
and 0. The sum is still 28, but the number of values is now 8. Thus, the
AVERAGE would be 3.5.

Make sense?

HTH,
Elkar


"SYerby" wrote:

I have the following simple funtion in a spreadsheet and noticed that it did
not produce the anticipated result when checking my numbers:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41,)

The comma after the B41 cell seems to produce a different answer than
anticipated and correct answer is produced when the comma is removed:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41)

How is the last comma in the first function affecting the calculation? Is
it including other cells, or is it ignoring cells in the function?

Thanks,

Scott

Extra comma at the end of a function
 

It's probably looking for the next cell to include in the average but there
is no more information thus you are getting the weird results. You would
have to look at the result the bad formula gave you and then the correct
result to try and figure out what data was being added or withheld from the
bad formula result.

"SYerby" wrote:

I have the following simple funtion in a spreadsheet and noticed that it did
not produce the anticipated result when checking my numbers:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41,)

The comma after the B41 cell seems to produce a different answer than
anticipated and correct answer is produced when the comma is removed:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41)

How is the last comma in the first function affecting the calculation? Is
it including other cells, or is it ignoring cells in the function?

Thanks,

Scott

Extra comma at the end of a function
 

AVEARGE is effectively SUM/COUNT. By having the extra comma, you are
increasing the COUNT by 1. SUM is not altered because it isn't referencing
anything, but you get the wrong answer.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(replace somewhere in email address with gmail if mailing direct)

"SYerby" wrote in message
...
I have the following simple funtion in a spreadsheet and noticed that it
did
not produce the anticipated result when checking my numbers:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41,)

The comma after the B41 cell seems to produce a different answer than
anticipated and correct answer is produced when the comma is removed:

=AVERAGE('specimen data'!B5,'specimen data'!B11,'specimen
data'!B17,'specimen data'!B23,'specimen data'!B29,'specimen
data'!B35,'specimen data'!B41)

How is the last comma in the first function affecting the calculation? Is
it including other cells, or is it ignoring cells in the function?

Thanks,

Scott