Numbers If function - treats blank cell as zero?

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Numbers If function - treats blank cell as zero?

Does the If Function in Apple Numbers treat blank cells as a zero? It sure looks like it does.

See if the following example:

Example Two:

The temperature field is empty yet the IF formula appears to be interpreting the cell as containing a number below 32.

Why does this matter? A blank cell treated as zero might unexpectedly change the results in certain cases.

Any ideas on how to handle blank cells that should not be treated as a zero?

Thanks for taking a look.

[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Oct 7, 2025 12:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Camelot

Level 9

57,999 points

Oct 7, 2025 2:16 PM in response to azpc_help

An adjunct (improvement?) to Niel's ISBLANK() would be to use ISNUMBER()

ISNUMBER() specifically checks for valid numeric values, so you can be sure the cell contains a number as well as not blank before you perform your Yes/No action.

=IF(ISNUMBER(B2),IF(B2≤32,"Yes","No"),"No Reading")

It's a small point, but if the temperature cell contained text (even by mistake) it wouldn't be caught by ISBLANK()

(note that the true/false actions are inverted if you use ISNUMBER() since you are performing the calculation if the cell IS a number, as opposed to doing it if the cell IS NOT blank)

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Answer 2

Niel

Community+ 2025

Level 10

740,183 points

Oct 7, 2025 1:45 PM in response to azpc_help

Add a check to see if the cell is blank. For example:

IF(ISBLANK(B27),"",IF(B27<3,1,2))

(261550)

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Numbers If function - treats blank cell as zero?

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