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Excel's Formula - sisman

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578<br />

Part V: Miscellaneous <strong>Formula</strong> Techniques<br />

<strong>Formula</strong>s returning an error<br />

A formula may return any of the following error values:<br />

#DIV/0!<br />

#N/A<br />

#NAME?<br />

#NULL!<br />

#NUM!<br />

#REF!<br />

#VALUE!<br />

The following sections summarize possible problems that may cause these errors.<br />

Excel allows you to choose how error values are printed. To access this feature, display<br />

the Page Setup dialog box and click the Sheet tab. You can choose to print error values<br />

as displayed (the default), or as blank cells, dashes, or #N/A. To display the Page Setup<br />

dialog box, click the dialog box launcher in the Page Layout➜Page Setup group.<br />

#DIV/0! errors<br />

Division by zero is not a valid operation. If you create a formula that attempts to divide by zero,<br />

Excel displays its familiar #DIV/0! error value.<br />

Because Excel considers a blank cell to be zero, you also get this error if your formula divides by<br />

a missing value. This problem is common when you create formulas for data that you haven’t<br />

entered yet, as shown in Figure 21-2. The formula in cell D2, which was copied to the cells below<br />

it, is as follows:<br />

=(C2–B2)/C2<br />

Tracing error values<br />

Often, an error in one cell is the result of an error in a precedent cell (a cell that is used by the<br />

formula). To help track down the source of an error value in a cell, select the cell and choose<br />

<strong>Formula</strong>s➜<strong>Formula</strong> Auditing➜Error Checking➜Trace Error. Excel draws arrows to indicate the<br />

error source.<br />

After you identify the error, use <strong>Formula</strong>s➜<strong>Formula</strong> Auditing➜Error Checking➜Remove Arrows<br />

to get rid of the arrow display.

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