Win 7 Ultimate
Office 2007

=IF(RAND()<0.5,"yes","no")

I'm trying to get my head round the formula above, but am unsure what part of it means. I know the formula as a whole means that if the randomly generated number is less than 50% then return "yes" & if it's more than 50% then return "no"

Where i'm lost is on:
(1) 50% of what? &

(2) When would I use this function? (that might be a 'piece of string' question)

I've just realised that if I put the formula into an otherwise blank worksheet, in a new workbook, it still generates a random list of yes's & no's (!?!)....so again......50% of what?


TIA

Hit F1 in XL and enter RAND in the textbox, it's all there

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1. point 5 (.5) is one-half of 1.
2. I don't see any use for this formula

Pecoflyer:
thanks, but i already looked at the excel help file & no, it's not "all there" - it doesn't answer either of my questions, that's why i posted my request

Kimberly:
i know that 0.5 is half of 1......but i'm not sure how that actually answers my question - 50% of what?

this is an example from a book i'm using to get the basics of excel, but the explanation is not very clear so, after experimenting with the formula & looking at both the excel help file & googling i thought i'd ask here.

to experiment i created a column of numbers (1 - 100) & used the formula. i couldn't see what the <0.5 was doing......the < is an operator, so what's it operating on, what's it actually comparing to 0.5 to to see if it's less than it or not?

the results i got didn't seem to relate to the numbers in the column & then i discovered that i get a series of yes's & no's even if i use the formula in a new & otherwise fresh workbook. so, & sorry if i'm labouring the point here, but what is being compared to 0.5 to decide whether to return "yes" or "no"?

Thanks

The result of the RAND function.

The result of the RAND function is not being displayed, but is being used inside the logical test of the IF function.

The RAND() function returns a number >=0 and <1. It stands to reason then that it would return something less than .5 about half the time.
There is no "50% of" anything. There is a random number between 0 and 1. If this time it would be less than .5, your formula returns "yes", otherwise, it returns "no".

Thank you, that clarifies the issue a bit, though I'm still not sure what you'd use the =IF(RAND().....) function for. Randomly selecting items/people/places in a list, maybe?


Thanks for your time & help,
Jeff

Exactly, Jeff. Your formula is designed to issue Yes or No on a random basis, averaging Yes about as many times as No. Of course, I don't know why the author wanted that effect in this case.