Formulas and Functions

Formula – arithmetic calculations that can be performed in Excel. You may use an equal sign or the
AutoSum Function to build a formula
Texts – letters, symbols, numbers and spaces or any combination that you enter into a cell
Value – a number that you enter into a cell that you may use in formula later. You may include
numeric symbols such as decimal point, comma or currency; represents a quantity, price amount,
exam score and any value

Arithmetic Operation and Corresponding Keyboard Sign

SIGN OPERATION EXAMPLE FUNCTION
+ Addition = B5+C5 Adds the values of cells B5 and C5
- Subtraction = B5-C5 Subtracts the value of cell C5 from B5
* Multiplication = B5*C5 Multiplies the values of cells B5 and C5
/ Division = B5/C5 Divides the value of cell B5 by C5
^ Exponentiation = B5^3 Increases the value of B5 to the third power

Number Symbol (####) Replacement - if the number is too long to fit within the cell boundaries,
Excel displays a series of symbol #### in the cell. The number and the formula are still stored in the
cell but the width of the cell is not enough to show the whole number. To display the value you
must increase the size of the column width.

Formula Error Messages

If your formula does not work, Excel will display the following messages wherein you should modify
your data or formula.

Formula Error Messages

#DIV/0 Attempts the undefined operation of dividing by zero
#VALUE! Tries to calculate something that is not a value (such as text)
#REF# Addresses a cell that does not exist (such as deleted cell)
#NAME? Uses a cell name that you have not defined or was misspelled
#NUM! Attempts an impossible mathematical operation
#N/A Formula cannot return to a legitimate result

Functions – are built-in formulas you can use to make your worksheet construction easier

Excel Functions
Function Description
=SUM Calculates the sum of the values of a range of cells
=AVERAGE Calculates the arithmetic mean of a range of cells or values
=MAX Gives the maximum value in a range of cells or values
=MIN Gives the minimum value in a range of cells or values
=COUNT Counts the number of cells in a range of cells or values
=IF Shows a series of calculations using the same formula but a different value for
each calculation to determine whether the formula is true or false
Examples: =SUM(B1:B12), =AVERAGE(B1:B12), =MAX(B1:B12), =COUNT(B1:B12)
=IF(B15>1000,”APPROVAL REQUIRED”,”NO NEED FOR APPROVAL)
If the B15 value is equal to 1500 (True) then it will return the value “APPROVAL REQUIRED”
otherwise (if False) it will return the value “NO NEED FOR APPROVAL”

COUNTA – simply looks at a range of cells and tells you how many of the cells contain data. In other
words, it looks for nonblank cells

LOOKUP Functions
HLOOKUP - used when the table direction is horizontal or across the worksheet
VLOOKUP - used when the table direction is vertical or down the worksheet. Since the most tables
are vertical, this function is widely used. The general form of this function is:
= VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table range, column number, [range lookup])
Ex. VLOOKUP(C5, B2:C7, 2, FALSE)

TEXT Functions
Concatenate – it is used to join two or more text strings into one string.
Syntax: CONCATENATE(text1, [text2], ...)
For example:
=CONCATENATE("Stream population for ", A2, " ", A3, " is ", A4, "/mile.")
=CONCATENATE(B2," ",C2)
Exact - Compares two text strings and returns TRUE if they are exactly the same, FALSE otherwise.
EXACT is case-sensitive but ignores formatting differences. Use EXACT to test text being entered
into a document.
Syntax: EXACT(text1,text2)
For example:
Trim - Removes all spaces from text except for single spaces between words
Syntax: TRIM(text)
For example:

ARRAYS
Array – a collection of items that can reside in a single row (called a one-dimensional horizontal
array), a column (a one-dimensional vertical array), or multiple rows and columns (a two-
dimensional array).
Array Formula - a formula that can perform multiple calculations on one or more items in an array;
can return either multiple results or a single result. An array formula that resides in multiple cells is
called a multi-cell formula, and an array formula that resides in a single cell is called a single-cell
formula.
MMULT FUNCTION

Returns the matrix product of two arrays. The result is an array with the same number of rows as
array1 and the same number of columns as array2.

MMULT(array1, array2)
The MMULT function syntax has the following arguments:
Array1, Array2 Required. The arrays you want to multiply.
DATE AND TIME FUNCTION
Datedif - Calculates the number of days, months, or years between two dates.
Syntax: DATEDIF(start_date,end_date,unit)

For example:
HOUR Function - Returns the hour of a time value. The hour is given as an integer, ranging from 0
(12:00 A.M.) to 23 (11:00 P.M.).
Time values are a portion of a date value and represented by a decimal number (for example, 12:00
PM is represented as 0.5 because it is half of a day).
MINUTE Function - Returns the minutes of a time value. The minute is given as an integer, ranging
from 0 to 59.