"OR" Function Results in Error

[Mvaldesi]

Good afternoon,

I'm trying to use the OR function nested within the IF function to determine whether a cell is an error or a negative value. Below is what I've tried, but the result is "#N/A" when the value in A2 is an error, not the "A" I'd expect. I do, however, get the "Z" result when the value in A2 is a positive number. Any idea where I'm going wrong here?

=IF(OR(ISERROR(A2),A2<0),"A","Z")

Thanks in advance for your help!

[sandy666]

because =IF(OR(ISERROR(A2),A2<0),"A","Z") error is error and it is not less than 0

you can try
=IF(OR(ISERROR(A2),IFERROR(A2,0)<0),"A","Z")
but I don't know what you want to achieve.

For A2 value = an error it doesn't matter what will be in the second parameter. It must be Boolean value, ie. TRUE or FALSE (1 or 0) but result of OR() will be TRUE (1)
in details:
A2=#N/A
so
OR(ISERROR(A2),....
ISERROR(#N/A) = TRUE

and you will get always A from IF()
If you want Z, both parameters of OR() should be FALSE

[Mvaldesi]

Thanks for the reply! Your solution seems to have done the trick, but I'm not sure I understand why it works or why my initial formula didn't. Mine essentially says" "If A2 is an error OR if A2 is a number less than zero, give me "A", if neither of those are true, give me "Z." Am I not able to perform an OR on a single cell if that OR tests for two different data types?

=IF(OR(ISERROR(A2),A2<0),"A","Z")

[sandy666]

eg. A2=#N/A

OR(ISERROR(#N/A),#N/A<0)
first parameter = TRUE
second parameter will be an error so you need change error to Boolean value like I said above

Function OR() works with Boolean values: TRUE / FALSE
so
OR(TRUE, TRUE) = TRUE
OR(TRUE, FALSE) = TRUE
OR(FALSE, FALSE) = FALSE

[Mvaldesi]

I guess that makes the kind of cold, literal sense I've come to expect from computer logic. Anyway, like I said, your solution works, so thank you kindly!

[sandy666]

You are welcome

If problem is resolved read my dancing (here or above) footnote. Thanks