max value of a cell nested if statements

Hi,
first post here so I hope I'm concise, yet thorough enough. I've been playing around with this for a few days and just can't get it.

On the attached worksheet I have a series of nested IF statements. In one column (F) I only want the value calculated in the formula if it is 12 or under.

I've tried =IF(F2>12,12,IF(E2>0,E2-F2,IF(E2,"",D2))) but that only returns a 12 in my destination cell. I'd like it to calculate the actual value, as long as it's not over 12.

Any help would really be appreciated!!
thank you

sorry for the confusion. i only want E2 calculated if there is a number in the cell. otherwise i need it to defer to cell D2.

i should have explained myself better - sorry again. when i use that formula, the end result in column G gives me 12. what i need it to do is subtract whatever number is in column F (provided it's 12 or lower) from column D, unless there is a number in column E, in which case the number in E should be used.

i think you gave me a fresh way of looking at this - i finally got it to do what i need by just changing a few little things in the formula you listed:

=IF(E2>0,D2-F2,IF(F2>=12,D2-12))

now instead of returning the number "12" in my destination cell it's actually subtracting anything higher than 12 as 12 from either column E or D.

my project just got way easier - thank you!

You did not put a second argument on your second IF statement. Therefore if E2=0 and F2<12, you'll get a "FALSE" in your cell. Is this okay with you?

ChemistB