3.7 Reference - reference to cell with no value = number 0?

The reference paragraph that I moved to 3.7 Reference reads:

"A reference may refer to a cell that does not contain a value; such a reference refers to an empty (aka blank) cell. An empty cell is neither zero nor the empty string, and an empty cell can be distinguished from cells containing values (including zero and the empty string) by some functions (such as ISBLANK and COUNTBLANK). An empty cell is not the same as an Error, in particular, it is distinguishable from the Error #N/A (not available). As discussed below, in many scalar contexts a reference to an empty cell is converted into 0 or the empty string, and in most sequences empty cells are automatically omitted. If the outermost expression is a reference to an empty cell, it shall be converted to the number 0."

Is the purpose of this paragraph to say:

"A reference to an empty cell returns the number 0."

Reasoning that the concept of an empty cell should be defined elsewhere.

See also OFFICE-2329