Sum of a column of IF functions

[PLD60]

Trying to auto calculate vacation time where it is earned at a rate of 9.538 hours/pay date.

Column A has the pay dates (A1 has start date, A2 (=A1+14) and filled down to show all future pay dates. Works great

Column B is to calculate additions to vacation time.
(B2) =IF((A2) <= TODAY(), "9.538", "") and filled down

This works great. If the date has past, 9.538 is entered into the coresponding B cell. If the date is in the future the coresponding B cell is blank.

Now I want to in D1 calcualte the total of column B. =SUM(B2:B500) returns 0.00 When is should be 247.988 (I have tested with 2014 dates)

If in D1 I put =SUM(B2+B3) it properly does the calcuation.

I was thinking that the problem was that I was entering 9.538 as text and not a number but, if that is so why will it calculate (B2+B3)?
Help!

[romperstomper]

The + operator will coerce numeric text to a true number, whereas SUM ignores all text. Your formula in B2 should be:

=IF((A2) <= TODAY(), 9.538, "")

[PLD60]

Perfect, Thank you

[romperstomper]

Glad to help.

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