IF Statement Precedence

[Phoenix5794]

This is a very simple and (should be) straight-forward task - finding the a side of a triangle using the Pythagorean theorem.

I have 3 inputs and 3 outputs. You can input one of three sides: A, B, or C. Your output is based on what cell you leave blank of the three.
Let's say I put a value into the cell for side A and a value for side B. The resulting value should be side C. The issue comes up when I type something for side A and B, and it gives an output for all three values. I've only written the formula for side A so far, but here it is.

=IF(ISTEXT(B5),"",IF(OR(B6,B7)="","",SUM(SQRT(ABS(B7^2-B6^2)))))

By using ISTEXT, what I'm saying is if the cell for input of side A has text in it, leave the (formula) cell blank. So I type in a value for side A, but it still outputs a value even though it should stay blank. Is Excel's precedence flawed? Shouldn't the true value take precedence over the false value?

Thanks.

[Phoenix5794]

Sorry, stupid thing to miss.
For those who might come across this same situation, there is a different function for text and numbers: ISTEXT and ISNUMBER..
I needed to use the number one.

[Andrew-R]

ISTEXT doesn't evaluate whether a cell is blank or empty it determines whether a cell contains a textual value or a numeric one.

So, if cell B5 contains the number 3 then ISTEXT(B5) will equal FALSE.

There's also a problem with your OR statement...OR(B6,B7) will return a value of FALSE if both B6 and B7 contain the value 0, a value of TRUE if either of them contains any other numeric value and an error if they're both blank or text. This return value will then be compared to an empty string to see if it matches, which it never will.

So your formula should read:

=IF(OR(B5="",B6="",B7=""),"",SQRT(ABS(B7^2-B6^2)))

The SUM function was surplus to requirements as well, and so I've removed it.

[Phoenix5794]

Thanks for the information. The OR statement to me is counter-intuitive. Shouldn't it be perceived as, if B6 or B7 are blank, return a blank, else "next statement"?

[tigeravatar]

Phoenix5794,

Attached is an example workbook based on the criteria you descibed. In cells B5, B6, and B7 you can input the length of two of the sides of a triangle. The output will give the resulting 3rd side of the triangle.

The formulas are:
In cell C5: =IF(B5="",IF(COUNT(B5:B7)<2,"",SQRT(B7^2-B6^2)),"")

In cell C6: =IF(B6="",IF(COUNT(B5:B7)<2,"",SQRT(B7^2-B5^2)),"")

In cell C7: =IF(B7="",IF(COUNT(B5:B7)<2,"",SQRT(B5^2+B6^2)),"")



Is something like that what you're looking for?