Take Control of Numbers

IF Statements and Logical Operators

Back in the original Star Trek days, my grandfather made fun of “Dr. Spock’s” funny ears—conflating the Enterprise science officer with the baby-care expert who came to fame a decade before. I loved Mr. Spock for his adherence to logic above all else (and his cocked-eyebrow reaction to Captain Kirk’s lack of same). It’s probably not coincidental that when I first encountered computer programming, I was most enamored of its use of logical functions, and that affection carried over to their use in spreadsheets.

But, enough history! This chapter starts by delving into the concept of truth, as interpreted by a spreadsheet formula, with a quick side trip about Comparison Operators. Then (with apologies to my vegan ...