Excel exercises
Excel exercises: Errors and blanks
An error value is still a value, and this group is about reading one before deciding to hide it.
#N/A means nothing matched, #VALUE! means a type is wrong, and #REF! means the reference no longer points at a cell. ISNA, ISERROR and ISERR test for them, and IFERROR catches every error and shows your own text. IFNA catches only the missing match, which is usually what people meant. A wide net hides a broken reference along with a missing code.
Four exercises at levels 2 and 3, and the summary asks which handler a given failure deserves.
The order matters more than the function. Read the code first, repair the cause where you can, and wrap only the failure you expect. A sheet of IFERROR wrappers is a sheet that no longer tells you when something breaks. In the summary exercise, 30 divided by an empty cell raises #DIV/0!, and IFNA would leave it showing.
A stale exercise is one you finished two weeks ago or longer. One that needs practice took a hint, or more than one try.
0 of 4 complete
- IFERROR: catch the error, show your text Paid Replace a failed lookup with words you chose, and know which faults those words will hide.
- IFNA: catch only a missing match Paid Replace a missing lookup match and leave every other error visible.
- Read #N/A, #VALUE! and #REF! Paid Tell a missing match apart from a broken reference, and print that difference as words.
- Error handling: which net catches what Paid Choose the wide net or the narrow one on purpose, and wrap the whole calculation in it.