payment calculations. Have 3 columns. Column A is % completion. Column B
is a formula that calcs a % payment reduction based on % data in A & yields a
corresponding dollar value. Column C is a formula that subtracts B from the
total payment & returns net payment.

Sample - Formula B:

=IF(H36="10%","$320.00",IF(H36="15%","$480.00",IF( H36="20%","$640.00","")))

Sample - Formula C:

=IF(I36"",SUM(3200-I36),"$3200.00")

When C is totaled using SUM function, a zero value is returned when B is "",
rather than totaling the full payments showing in C.

Only by changing "" in formula B to a zero and showing the zero value will
the values in C add up to give sum. If value in B is anything 0 the SUM
calculation works fine. I'm guessing this is a formatting problem in that
Excel doesn't recognize the "" result as "0" and so somehow is using null as
a value, returning a zero result in the SUM of Column C when in actuality the
total is $64K plus. Solution appreciated - or do I have to change formula in
B to show "0" instead of ""?

Why doesn't Excel read the values in C correctly when cells in Column B are
blank - ie, ""?

Thanks!