How to blank cells in Excel?

Question

I have two columns of cells in Excel. The first column I enter certain numbers into the cells. The second column shows the results of a calculation based on its corresponding cell in the first column.

I would like it where if there is no entry in a cell in the first column (ie, it is blank) then the corresponding cell in the second column is also blank.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

the first answer is correct but I prefer "trimming" the cell to make sure it's blank as a lot of users tend to use the space bar to erase the contents of a cell instead of the delete key.  The cell with a space may look "blank", but it's not.

the TRIM function removes the leading/trailing spaces

=IF(TRIM(A2)="","",A2*A2)

or you could also do

=IF(ISBLANK(TRIM(A2)), "", A2*A2)

ISBLANK() is a built-in function that returns either True or False depending on whether or not the cell "is blank"

Answer 2

in A3 type

=if(a1="","", a1*a2)

you cannot have a formula in Cell A2 and enter data into it, as it over writes the formula. You can make A2 blank, if A1 is blank. if you try this you can have the CIRCULAR ERROR condition, where a cell is trying to manipulate data in its own cell.

Answer 3

Your formulas in the second column should look like

=If(A2="","",A2*A2)

Assuming the first column is A and the formula is in Row 2.

Substitute the original formula for A2*A2.