Subtraction Formula

Hey Everyone,

I need a formula for this:

B2-B1 answer in C2 but it will not display a negative number.

Try

=MAX(0,B2-B1)

So far so good.

But, if I enter data in say B2 but have not in B1 yet, how do I stop C2 from displaying what I entered in B2?

So far so good.

But, if I enter data in say B2 but have not in B1 yet, how do I stop C2 from displaying what I entered in B2?

Thanks bebo,

How do I get it to display a 0?

Here is an example of my current problem:

Cell C3 should display a 0 instead of the 76,575,490. At the bottom of the table I have it total, but it currently totals all the cells, which gives me incorrect data.


B C
1 0 0
2 0 0
3 76575490 76,575,490
4 77333314 757,824
5 78164163 830,849
6 TOTAL 78,164,163

I think this has somehow gone out into left field and is way more complicated than it should be.

This was given

Originally Posted by bebo021999

May be:
=IF(OR(B1="",B2=""),"",MAX(0,B2-B1))

You responded

Originally Posted by Dowjd

Thanks bebo,

How do I get it to display a 0?

I would think that meant it worked, except that it returned a "" when you wanted a 0
So I would just change
=IF(OR(B1="",B2=""),"",MAX(0,B2-B1))
to
=IF(OR(B1="",B2=""),0,MAX(0,B2-B1))

Thanks Jonmo1

That worked perfectly.

I really appreciate everyone's help.

Would be simple, but its a monthly spreadsheet to track data and in my example if I have a 0 above a cell, it just carries the last number inputted. Which gives me incorrect data. I'd like it to not give me a total if the previous cell has no entry. if that makes sense.