Adding 2 numeric columns results in TypeError when one of the values in the 2 column is empty instead of 0

[Siraj_Samsudeen]

I have a salary table which has about 28 numeric columns of different types of allowance that I am trying to group into about 5 column - for example, Fringe Benefits Total = Accident Allowance + Mobile Allowance. The challenge I have is that many of these cells are empty. I could use trigger formulas or column transform to make empty values 0, but I would like to leave them as I got them from the HR system export.
Now I need some clean way to coerce None to 0 in all my formulas so that I don’t get this error -

TypeError : unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'float' and 'NoneType'

A `TypeError` is usually caused by trying
to combine two incompatible types of objects,
by calling a function with the wrong type of object,
or by trying to do an operation not allowed on a given type of object.

You tried to add two incompatible types of objects:
a number (`float`) and a variable equal to `None` (`NoneType`).

I have already referred to this post and it is not helpful for my current situation
#TypeError - How to resolve errors in a formula column due to empty cells - Showcase - Grist Creators

#TypeError - How to resolve errors in a formula column due to empty cells

Formulas apply to all rows within a column - so what happens when rows don’t have data? You’ll get an error, as you can see below. In the “Cost per item” column, we are using a formula = $Cost/$Quantity but there is no data in rows some of these rows, so we see #TypeError. [image] We can change a column’s behavior on different rows using a conditional in the formula. For the example above, we’ll want to add the if statement, seen below, before the formula - that way, when $Quantity is blank, …

[jarek]

Take a look at N formula function link to article, it was meant to be used in such cases.

[Siraj_Samsudeen]

Thank you very jarek. After seeing your post, I recalled having seen such a function, but when I was searching for it, I could not find it.

2 suggestions for Grist team to consider:

1. Please add the python error we get with the link to the article as a solution, so that when someone searches using the python type error, they will be pointed to this article
2. Please consider applying N function automatically if a numeric field is empty. Being a programmer and a DB guy, I know the default puristic handling of None/Null. But given that Grist is targeted towards the average Excel user, please mimic the simplicity and the sensible default of Excel considering empty cells as 0 in numeric calculations.