Averaging numbers but ignoring < and - entries

K

KIM

I have a column of data as illustrated below than contains numbers, blank
cells, dashes and < entries. Is it possible to average only the numbers
ensuring that the divsor is the number of cells that contain number entreis
rather than all cells containing an entry (eg for below example answer should
be 0.137)

0.3

<0.001
0.01

<0.01

0.1

Thank you
 
R

Ron Rosenfeld

I have a column of data as illustrated below than contains numbers, blank
cells, dashes and < entries. Is it possible to average only the numbers
ensuring that the divsor is the number of cells that contain number entreis
rather than all cells containing an entry (eg for below example answer should
be 0.137)

0.3

<0.001
0.01

<0.01

0.1

Thank you
Click to expand...

If your entries are in, for example, A1:A8, the formula

=AVERAGE(A1:A8)




--ron
 
K

KIM

How about if there is a ' infront of every entry and - entered into some
cells? I need the ' to trick access into believing that all the entries are
TEXT rather than a mixture of TEXT and NUMBERS.

e.g.
'0.3

'<0.001
'0.01

'<0.01

'-
'0.1

Should give an answer of 0.0842


Thank you
 
C

CyberTaz

Take a look at the VALUE function |:>)

KIM said:
How about if there is a ' infront of every entry and - entered into some
cells? I need the ' to trick access into believing that all the entries are
TEXT rather than a mixture of TEXT and NUMBERS.

e.g.
'0.3

'<0.001
'0.01

'<0.01

'-
'0.1

Should give an answer of 0.0842


Thank you
Click to expand...
 
R

Ron Rosenfeld

How about if there is a ' infront of every entry and - entered into some
cells? I need the ' to trick access into believing that all the entries are
TEXT rather than a mixture of TEXT and NUMBERS.

e.g.
'0.3

'<0.001
'0.01

'<0.01

'-
'0.1

Should give an answer of 0.0842


Thank you
Click to expand...

I don't know. I don't understand how you are getting an answer of 0.0842 with
those values.

If an answer of 0.136667 might be correct, then the *array* formula:

=AVERAGE(IF(ISNUMBER(-SUBSTITUTE(A1:A9,"'","")),--SUBSTITUTE(A1:A9,"'","")))

will strip off leading single quotes and average what is a number.

To enter an *array* formula, after typing or pasting in the formula, hold down
<ctrl><shift> while hitting <enter>. Excel will place braces {...} around the
formula.


--ron
 
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