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

  • Thread starter Thread starter s.b.bhor
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s.b.bhor

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")
 
Hi,

Am Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:48:28 -0700 (PDT) schrieb (e-mail address removed):
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")
Click to expand...

-- 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.
 
Claus Busch said:
Am Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:48:28 -0700 (PDT) schrieb (e-mail address removed):

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

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)
 
This -- was formulae written by Nivrutti Patil very carefully scripted plan indeed :)
 
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