if(and(isnumber(match(... vs if(and(match(...

[Dave F]

I have a workbook, created by someone else, that I'm trying to clean up. The
following formula parses a long table of records:

=IF(AND(ISNUMBER(MATCH(LEFT(B612,3),'[ELR expense account
identification.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$A$12,0)),ISNUMBER(MATCH(C612,'[Frank''s
expense codes--GDCS and non-GDCS.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$A$39,0))),"Extract","")

I get the same results if ISNUMBER is removed:
=IF(AND(MATCH(LEFT(B612,3),'[ELR expense account
identification.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$A$12,0),MATCH(C612,'[Frank''s expense
codes--GDCS and non-GDCS.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$A$39,0)),"Extract","")

Any advantage to retaining ISNUMBER?

Dave

 

[DaveO]

Could it be that the original creator had encountered non-numeric
entries, and included that as a workaround? Maybe the data came from
a data source that has since been improved to include only numerics.

 

[Dave F]

I don't think that's the issue. ISNUMBER is included because MATCH(....)
resolves to either a number indicating the relative position of the match or
else a #N/A error if no match is found. But the IF(AND( construction, it
seems, obviates the need for the ISNUMBER(...) check.

It seems redundant.

Dave