MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum QuestionsAsk a Question

How Do I Correct a Formula To Correct a Boolean Error Message?

I have built several sheets in numbers and with some of the inputs I get “The Formula uses a Boolean in place of a number”. This seems to occur when I get different information and the numbers change. I don’t always get the error message. Very difficult time wrapping my head around Boolean – One of the formulas is listed here. “IF (PPM::F5 <350,"200")+IF(PPM::F5<250,"200")+IF AND ((PPM::F5<350,PPM::J5<500),"200","100")

I am attempting to make recommendations for soil amendments, based on the numbers received from different clients' submitted soil samples (lab numbers) showing amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and other nutrients. Depending on the numbers received from the lab, sometimes I get the error message, sometimes I don't.
—–
Stan

Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Correct a Formula To Correct a Boolean Error Message?”

    3 years ago

    Your formula seems to have several problems. First, each IF function should have 3 parameters. The third one should be what is returned when the comparison is false. Second, if you want to return 200 if the comparison is true, then use 200, not "200" which indicates a string of characters, not a number. Third, you are missing a left parenthesis between the last IF and AND. Looks like you then have and extra one after the AND..

    So maybe you want something like this instead:

    IF (PPM::F5<350,200,0)+IF(PPM::F5<250,200,0)+IF(AND (PPM::F5<350,PPM::J5<500),200,100)

    I have no idea if this is what you need though. It adds the results of the IF functions together so if the value of F5 is 200 then it adds 200 plus another 200 to give 400. Then adds another 200 if J5 is less than 500. So 600. I can’t see the screenshot because you seem to have pasted a link to your account t or something instead of the shareable imgur link.

    Stan Pace
    3 years ago

    Gary, Thanks for your example, worked great! For some reason, I was under the impression that I needed to add quotation marks to ensure the numbers and to not add the 0 as the "if false". Thanks.

Comments Closed.