Numbers: VALUE function does not recognize empty string I am using Apple Numbers and find it frustrating that cell arguments containing empty text (and sometimes contain numbers from other sheets) are not converted to a number of value 0, when referenced by a function that expects a numeric value.

For example, a function in cell:

=MAX(I5,0.5×J5)


with J5 being empty, yields an error message

The operator “*” expects a number but found “.”


So I tried to encase J5 with VALUE(J5), and got another message:

VALUE requires a string specifying a number, but found “” instead.


Is there an efficient way to treat all spaces as 0 for the countless cells that may have that situation?
IFERROR(VALUE(&lt;cell&gt;),0) 


would return 0 for an empty cell (or any string that can not be converted into a value). I tried something like:

= MAX (I5, (0.5 x (IFERROR(VALUE(J5),0))) 


and my initial tests were working.

Hope this helps