If and nesting excel

A logical test means having an analytical output that is either TRUE or FALSE. In Excel, we can perform a logical test for any situation. The most commonly used logical test is using the equals to the operator, which is “=” if we use =A1=B1 in cell A2, then it will return TRUE if the values are equal and FALSE if the values are not equal.

What is the Logical Test in Excel?

In Excel, at the beginning stages of learning, it is not easy to understand the concept of logical tests. But once you master this, it will be a valuable skill for your CV. More often than not, in Excel, we use a logical test to match multiple criteriaCriteria based calculations in excel are performed by logical functions. To match single criteria, we can use IF logical condition, having to perform multiple tests, we can use nested IF conditions. But for matching multiple criteria to arrive at a single result is a complex criterion-based calculation.read more and arrive at the desired solution.

In Excel, we have as many as 9 logical formulas. We must go to the “Formulas” tab and click on the “Logical” function group to see the logical formulas.

Some of them are frequently used formulas, and some of them are rarely used. This article will cover some of the important Excel logical formulas in real-time examples. All the Excel logical formulas work based on TRUE or FALSE if the logical test we do.

How to Use Logical Function in Excel?

Below are examples of logical functions in Excel.

#1 – AND & OR Logical Function in Excel

Excel AND and OR functions work opposite each other. For example, AND condition in Excel requires all the logical tests to be TRUE. On the other hand, the OR function requires any logical tests to be TRUE.

For example, look at the below examples.

We have student names, marks 1, and marks 2. If the student scored more than 35 in both exams, the result should be TRUE. If not, the result should be FALSE. Since we need to satisfy both the conditions, we need to use AND logical test here.

Example #1- AND Logical Function in Excel

Example #2 – OR Logical Function in Excel

The Excel OR function is completely different from the AND function. The OR in ExcelThe OR function in Excel is used to test various conditions, allowing you to compare two values or statements in Excel. If at least one of the arguments or conditions evaluates to TRUE, it will return TRUE. Similarly, if all of the arguments or conditions are FALSE, it will return FASLE.read more requires only one condition to be TRUE. Therefore, we must apply the same logical test to the above data with OR conditions.

We will have results in either FALSE or TRUE. Here, we got TRUE.

Drag the formula to other cells.

Now, look at the difference between AND and OR functions. The OR function returns TRUE for students B and C even though they have scored less than 35 in one of the exams. However, since they scored more than 35 in Marks 2, the OR function found the condition of >35 TRUE in 2 logical tests and returned TRUE as a result.

#2 – IF Logical Function in Excel

The IF excel FunctionIF function in Excel evaluates whether a given condition is met and returns a value depending on whether the result is “true” or “false”. It is a conditional function of Excel, which returns the result based on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the given criteria.
read more is one of the important logical functions to discuss in Excel. It includes three arguments to supply. Now, look at the syntax.

• Logical Test: It is nothing but our conditional test.
• Value if True: If the above logical test in Excel is TRUE, what should be the result.
• Values if FALSE: If the above logical test in Excel is FALSE, what should be the result.

For example, take a look at the below data.

If the product’s price is more than 80, we need the result as “Costly.” On the other hand, if the product’s price is less than 80, we need the result as “OK.”

Step 1: Here, the logical test is whether the price is >80 or not. So, we must open the IF condition first.

Step 2: Now pass the logical test in Excel, Price >80.

Step 3: If the logical test in Excel is TRUE, we need the result as “Costly.” So in the next argument, VALUE, if TRUE, mentions the result in double-quotes as “Costly.”

Step 4: The final argument is if the logical test in Excel is FALSE. If the test is FALSE, we need the result to be “OK.”

We got the result of “Costly.”

Step 5: Drag the formula to other cells to have the result in all the cells.

Since the orange and sapota price is less than 80, we got the result as “OK.” However, the logical test in Excel is >80, so we got “Costly” for apples and grapes because their price is > 80.

#3 – IF with AND & OR Logical Functions in Excel

The IF function with the other two logical functions (AND & OR) is one of the best combination formulas in Excel. For better understanding, look at the below example data, which we have used for AND and OR conditions.

If the student scored more than 35 in both the exams, it would declare him a PASS or FAIL.

The AND function, by default, can only return TRUE or FALSE as a result. But here, we need the results as PASS or FAIL. So, we have to use the IF condition here.

Open the IF condition first.

If we can only test one condition simultaneously, we need to look at two conditions. So, we must open AND condition and pass the tests as Exam 1 >35 and Exam 2>35.

If both the supplied conditions are TRUE, we need the result as “PASS.” So mention the value “PASS” if the logical test in Excel is “TRUE.”

If the logical test in Excel is “FALSE,” the result should be “FAIL.”

So, here we got the result as “PASS.”

Drag the formula to other cells.

So, instead of default TRUE or FALSE, we got our values with the help of the IF condition. Similarly, we can also apply the OR function and replace the OR function with the IF and AND functions.

Things to Remember

• The AND functionThe AND function in Excel is classified as a logical function; it returns TRUE if the specified conditions are met, otherwise it returns FALSE.read more requires all the logical tests in Excel to be TRUE.
• The OR function requires at least any logical tests to be TRUE.
• We have other logical tests in Excel like the IFERROR function in excelThe IFERROR function in Excel checks a formula (or a cell) for errors and returns a specified value in place of the error.read more, NOT function in excelNOT Excel function is a logical function in Excel that is also known as a negation function and it negates the value returned by a function or the value returned by another logical function.read more, TRUE Function in excelIn Excel, the TRUE function is a logical function that is used by other conditional functions such as the IF function. If the condition is met, the output is true; if the conditions are not met, the output is false.read more, FALSE, etc.…
• We will discuss the remaining Excel logical tests in a separate article.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Logical Tests in Excel. We discuss logical functions like AND, OR, and IF in Excel, practical examples, and a downloadable template. You may also learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• SUMIF with Multiple CriteriaThe SUMIF (SUM+IF) with multiple criteria sums the cell values based on the conditions provided. The criteria are based on dates, numbers, and text. The SUMIF function works with a single criterion, while the SUMIFS function works with multiple criteria in excel.read more
• IFERROR in Excel VBAThe IFERROR function in Excel is used to determine what to do when an error occurs before performing any function.read more
• SUMPRODUCT in Excel with Multiple CriteriaIn Excel, using SUMPRODUCT with several Criteria allows you to compare different arrays using multiple criteria.read more
• VLookup Function with IFIn Excel, vlookup is a reference function, and IF is a conditional statement. Based on the results of the Vlookup function, they locate a value that meets the criteria and also matches the reference value.read more

Multiple IF Conditions in Excel

The multiple IF conditions in Excel are IF statements contained within another IF statement. They are used to test multiple conditions simultaneously and return distinct values. The additional IF statements can be included in the “value if true” and “value if false” arguments of a standard IF formula.

For example, suppose we have a dataset of students’ scores from B1:B12. We need to grade the students according to their scores. Then, using the IF condition, we can manage the multiple conditions. In this example, we can insert the nested IF formula in cell D1 to assign a grade to a score. We can grade total score as “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” and “F.” A score would be “F” if it is greater than or equal to 30, “D” if it is greater than 60, and “C” if it is greater than or equal to 70, and “A,” “B” if the score is less than 95. We can insert the formula in D1 with 5 separate IF functions:

=IF(B1>30,”F”,IF(B1>60,”D”,IF(B1>70,”C”,IF(C5>80,”B”,”A”))))

Explanation

The IF formula is used when we wish to test a condition and return one value if the condition is met and another value if it is not met.

Each subsequent IF formula is incorporated into the “value_if_false” argument of the previous IF. So, the nested IF excelIn Excel, nested if function means using another logical or conditional function with the if function to test multiple conditions. For example, if there are two conditions to be tested, we can use the logical functions AND or OR depending on the situation, or we can use the other conditional functions to test even more ifs inside a single if.read more formula works as follows:

Syntax

IF (condition1, result1, IF (condition2, result2, IF (condition3, result3,………..)))

Examples

You can download this Multiple Ifs Excel Template here – Multiple Ifs Excel Template

Example #1

Suppose we wish to find how a student scores in an exam. There are two exam scores of a student, and we define the total score (sum of the two scores) as “Good,” “Average,” and “Bad.” A score would be “Good” if it is greater than or equal to 60, ‘Average’ if it is between 40 and 60, and ‘Bad’ if it is less than or equal to 40.

Let us say the first score is stored in column B, the second in column C.

The following formula tells Excel to return “Good,” “Average,” or “Bad”:

=IF(D2>=60,”Good”,IF(D2>40,”Average”,”Bad”))

This formula returns the result as given below:

Drag the formula to get results for the rest of the cells.

We can see that one multiple IF function is sufficient in this case as we need to get only 3 results.

We can see that one multiple IF function is sufficient in this case as we need to get only 3 results.

Example #2

We want to test one more condition in the above examples: the total score of 70 and above is categorized as “Excellent.”

=IF(D2>=70,”Excellent”,IF(D2>=60,”Good”,IF(D2>40,”Average”,”Bad”)))

This formula returns the result as given below:

Excellent: >=70

Good: Between 60 & 69

Average: Between 41 & 59

Bad: <=40

Drag the formula to get results for the rest of the cells.

We can add several “IF” conditions if required similarly.

Example #3

Suppose we wish to test a few sets of different conditions. In that case, those conditions can be expressed using logical OR and AND, nesting the functions inside IF statements and then nesting the IF statements into each other.

For instance, if we have two columns containing the number of targets made by an employee in 2 quarters: Q1 and Q2. Then, we wish to calculate the performance bonus of the employee based on a higher target number.

We can make a formula with the logic:

1. If either Q1 or Q2 targets are greater than 70, then the employee gets a 10% bonus,
2. If either of them is greater than 60, then the employee receives a 7% bonus,
3. If either of them is greater than 50, then the employee gets a 5% bonus,
4. If either is greater than 40, then the employee receives a 3% bonus. Else, no bonus.

So, we first write a few OR statements like (B2>=70,C2>=70), and then nest them into logical tests of IF functions as follows:

=IF(OR(B2>=70,C2>=70),10%,IF(OR(B2>=60,C2>=60),7%, IF(OR(B2>=50,C2>=50),5%, IF(OR(B2>=40,C2>=40),3%,””))))

This formula returns the result as given below:

Next, drag the formula to get the results of the rest of the cells.

Example #4

Now, let us say we want to test one more condition in the above example:

1. If both Q1 and Q2 targets are greater than 70, then the employee gets a 10% bonus
2. if both of them are greater than 60, then the employee receives a 7% bonus
3. if both of them are greater than 50, then the employee gets a 5% bonus
4. if both of them are greater than 40, then the employee receives a 3% bonus
5. Else, no bonus.

So, we first write a few AND statements like (B2>=70,C2>=70), and then nest them: tests of IF functions as follows:

=IF(AND(B2>=70,C2>=70),10%,IF(AND(B2>=60,C2>=60),7%, IF(AND(B2>=50,C2>=50),5%, IF(AND(B2>=40,C2>=40),3%,””))))

This formula returns the result as given below:

Next, drag the formula to get results for the rest of the cells.

Things to Remember

• The multiple IF function evaluates the logical tests in the order they appear in a formula. So, for example, as soon as one condition evaluates to be “True,” the following conditions are not tested.
  • For instance, if we consider the second example discussed above, the multiple IF condition in Excel evaluates the first logical test (D2>=70) and returns “Excellent” because the condition is “True” in the below formula:

=IF(D2>=70,”Excellent”,IF(D2>=60,,”Good”,IF(D2>40,”Average”,”Bad”))

Now, if we reverse the order of IF functions in Excel as follows:

=IF(D2>40,”Average”,IF(D2>=60,,”Good”,IF(D2>=70,”Excellent”,”Bad”))

In this case, the formula tests the first condition. Since 85 is greater than or equal to 70, a result of this condition is also “True,” so the formula would return “Average” instead of “Excellent” without testing the following conditions.

Correct Order

Incorrect Order

Note: Changing the order of the IF function in Excel would change the result.

• Evaluate the formula logic– To see the step-by-step evaluation of multiple IF conditions, we can use the ‘Evaluate Formula’ feature in excel on the “Formula” tab in the “Formula Auditing” group. Clicking the “Evaluate” button will show all the steps in the evaluation process.
• For instance, in the second example, the evaluation of the first logical testA logical test in Excel results in an analytical output, either true or false. The equals to operator, “=,” is the most commonly used logical test.read more of multiple IF formulas will go as D2>=70; 85>=70; True; Excellent.

• Balancing the parentheses: If the parentheses do not match in terms of number and order, then the multiple IF formula would not work.
  • If we have more than one set of parentheses, the parentheses pairs are shaded in different colors so that the opening parentheses match the closing ones.
  • Also, on closing the parenthesis, the matching pair is highlighted.

• Numbers and Text should be treated differently: The text should always be enclosed in double quotes in the multiple IF formula.
• Multiple IF’s can often become troublesome: Managing many true and false conditions and closing brackets in one statement becomes difficult. Therefore, it is always good to use other tools like IF function or VLOOKUP in case Multiple IF’sSometimes while working with data, when we match the data to the reference Vlookup, it finds the first value and does not look for the next value. However, for a second result, to use Vlookup with multiple criteria, we need to use other functions with it.read more are difficult to maintain in Excel.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Multiple IF Conditions in Excel. We discuss using multiple IF conditions, practical examples, and a downloadable Excel template. You may also learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• IF OR in VBAIF OR is not a single statement; it is a pair of logical functions used together in VBA when we have more than one criteria to check, and when we use the if statement, we receive the true result if either of the criteria is met.read more
• COUNTIF in ExcelThe COUNTIF function in Excel counts the number of cells within a range based on pre-defined criteria. It is used to count cells that include dates, numbers, or text. For example, COUNTIF(A1:A10,”Trump”) will count the number of cells within the range A1:A10 that contain the text “Trump”
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• IFERROR Excel Function – ExamplesThe IFERROR function in Excel checks a formula (or a cell) for errors and returns a specified value in place of the error.read more
• SUMIF Excel FunctionThe SUMIF Excel function calculates the sum of a range of cells based on given criteria. The criteria can include dates, numbers, and text. For example, the formula “=SUMIF(B1:B5, “<=12”)” adds the values in the cell range B1:B5, which are less than or equal to 12.
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