What is excel functions with examples

Below is a brief overview of about 100 important Excel functions you should know, with links to detailed examples. We also have a large list of example formulas, a more complete list of Excel functions, and video training. If you are new to Excel formulas, see this introduction.

Note: Excel now includes Dynamic Array formulas, which offer important new functions.

Date and Time Functions

Excel provides many functions to work with dates and times. 

NOW and TODAY

You can get the current date with the TODAY function and the current date and time with the NOW Function. Technically, the NOW function returns the current date and time, but you can format as time only, as seen below:

NOW and TODAY functions

TODAY() // returns current date
NOW() // returns current time

Note: these are volatile functions and will recalculate with every worksheet change. If you want a static value, use date and time shortcuts.

DAY, MONTH, YEAR, and DATE

You can use the DAY, MONTH, and YEAR functions to disassemble any date into its raw components, and the DATE function to put things back together again.

Functions to disassemble and reassemble dates

=DAY("14-Nov-2018") // returns 14
=MONTH("14-Nov-2018") // returns 11
=YEAR("14-Nov-2018") // returns 2018
=DATE(2018,11,14) // returns 14-Nov-2018

HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, and TIME

Excel provides a set of parallel functions for times. You can use the HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND functions to extract pieces of a time, and you can assemble a TIME from individual components with the TIME function.

Time function examples

=HOUR("10:30") // returns 10
=MINUTE("10:30") // returns 30
=SECOND("10:30") // returns 0
=TIME(10,30,0) // returns 10:30

DATEDIF and YEARFRAC

You can use the DATEDIF function to get time between dates in years, months, or days. DATEDIF can also be configured to get total time in «normalized» denominations, i.e. «2 years and 6 months and 27 days».

DATEDIF function example

Use YEARFRAC to get fractional years:

YEARFRAC function example

=YEARFRAC("14-Nov-2018","10-Jun-2021") // returns 2.57

EDATE and EOMONTH

A common task with dates is to shift a date forward (or backward) by a given number of months. You can use the EDATE and EOMONTH functions for this. EDATE moves by month and retains the day. EOMONTH works the same way, but always returns the last day of the month.

EDATE and EOMONTH function examples

EDATE(date,6) // 6 months forward
EOMONTH(date,6) // 6 months forward (end of month)

WORKDAY and NETWORKDAYS

To figure out a date n working days in the future, you can use the WORKDAY function. To calculate the number of workdays between two dates, you can use NETWORKDAYS.

WORKDAY function example

WORKDAY(start,n,holidays) // date n workdays in future

Video: How to calculate due dates with WORKDAY

NETWORKDAYS function example

NETWORKDAYS(start,end,holidays) // number of workdays between dates

Note: Both functions automatically skip weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and will also skip holidays, if provided. If you need more flexibility on what days are considered weekends, see the WORKDAY.INTL function and NETWORKDAYS.INTL function. 

WEEKDAY and WEEKNUM

To figure out the day of week from a date, Excel provides the WEEKDAY function. WEEKDAY returns a number between 1-7 that indicates Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. Use the WEEKNUM function to get the week number in a given year.

WEEKDAY and WEEKNUM function examples

=WEEKDAY(date) // returns a number 1-7
=WEEKNUM(date) // returns week number in year

Engineering

CONVERT

Most Engineering functions are pretty technical…you’ll find a lot of functions for complex numbers in this section. However, the CONVERT function is quite useful for everyday unit conversions. You can use CONVERT to change units for distance, weight, temperature, and much more.

CONVERT function example

=CONVERT(72,"F","C") // returns 22.2

Information Functions

ISBLANK, ISERROR, ISNUMBER, and ISFORMULA

Excel provides many functions for checking the value in a cell, including ISNUMBER,  ISTEXT, ISLOGICAL, ISBLANK, ISERROR, and ISFORMULA  These functions are sometimes called the «IS» functions, and they all return TRUE or FALSE based on a cell’s contents.

ISNUMBER ISTEXT ISLOGICAL ISBLANK ISERROR ISFORMULA

Excel also has ISODD and ISEVEN functions that will test a number to see if it’s even or odd.

By the way, the green fill in the screenshot above is applied automatically with a conditional formatting formula.

Logical Functions

Excel’s logical functions are a key building block of many advanced formulas. Logical functions return the boolean values TRUE or FALSE. If you need a primer on logical formulas, this video goes through many examples.

AND, OR and NOT

The core of Excel’s logical functions are the AND function, the OR function, and the NOT function. In the screen below, each of these function is used to run a simple test on the values in column B:

AND, OR, and NOT functions

=AND(B5>3,B5<9)
=OR(B5=3,B5=9)
=NOT(B5=2)
  • Video: How to build logical formulas
  • Guide: 50 examples of formula criteria

IFERROR and IFNA

The IFERROR function and IFNA function can be used as a simple way to trap and handle errors. In the screen below, VLOOKUP is used to retrieve cost from a menu item. Column F contains just a VLOOKUP function, with no error handling. Column G shows how to use IFNA with VLOOKUP to display a custom message when an unrecognized item is entered.

IFNA function with VLOOKUP example

=VLOOKUP(E5,menu,2,0) // no error trapping
=IFNA(VLOOKUP(E5,menu,2,0),"Not found") // catch errors

Whereas IFNA only catches an #N/A error, the IFERROR function will catch any formula error.

IF and IFS functions

The IF function is one of the most used functions in Excel. In the screen below, IF checks test scores and assigns «pass» or «fail»:

IF function example

Multiple IF functions can be nested together to perform more complex logical tests.

New in Excel 2019 and Excel 365, the IFS function can run multiple logical tests without nesting IFs.

IFS function example

=IFS(C5<60,"F",C5<70,"D",C5<80,"C",C5<90,"B",C5>=90,"A")

Lookup and Reference Functions

VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP

Excel offers a number of functions to lookup and retrieve data. Most famous of all is VLOOKUP:

VLOOKUP function example

=VLOOKUP(C5,$F$5:$G$7,2,TRUE)

More: 23 things to know about VLOOKUP.

HLOOKUP works like VLOOKUP, but expects data arranged horizontally:

HLOOKUP function example

=HLOOKUP(C5,$G$4:$I$5,2,TRUE)

INDEX and MATCH

For more complicated lookups, INDEX and MATCH offers more flexibility and power:

INDEX and MATCH function example

=INDEX(C5:E12,MATCH(H4,B5:B12,0),MATCH(H5,C4:E4,0))

Both the INDEX function and the MATCH function are powerhouse functions that turn up in all kinds of formulas.

More: How to use INDEX and MATCH

LOOKUP

The LOOKUP function has default behaviors that make it useful when solving certain problems. LOOKUP assumes values are sorted in ascending order and always performs an approximate match. When LOOKUP can’t find a match, it will match the next smallest value. In the example below we are using LOOKUP to find the last entry in a column:

LOOKUP function example - last non-empty cell

ROW and COLUMN

You can use the ROW function and COLUMN function to find row and column numbers on a worksheet. Notice both ROW and COLUMN return values for the current cell if no reference is supplied:

ROW and COLUMN function example

The row function also shows up often in advanced formulas that process data with relative row numbers.

ROWS and COLUMNS

The ROWS function and COLUMNS function provide a count of rows in a reference. In the screen below, we are counting rows and columns in an Excel Table named «Table1».

ROWS and COLUMNS function example

Note ROWS returns a count of data rows in a table, excluding the header row. By the way, here are 23 things to know about Excel Tables.

HYPERLINK

You can use the HYPERLINK function to construct a link with a formula. Note HYPERLINK lets you build both external links and internal links:

HYPERLINK function example

=HYPERLINK(C5,B5)

GETPIVOTDATA

The GETPIVOTDATA function is useful for retrieving information from existing pivot tables.

GETPIVOTDATA function example

=GETPIVOTDATA("Sales",$B$4,"Region",I6,"Product",I7)

CHOOSE

The CHOOSE function is handy any time you need to make a choice based on a number:

CHOOSE function example

=CHOOSE(2,"red","blue","green") // returns "blue"

Video: How to use the CHOOSE function

TRANSPOSE

The TRANSPOSE function gives you an easy way to transpose vertical data to horizontal, and vice versa.

TRANSPOSE function example

{=TRANSPOSE(B4:C9)}

Note: TRANSPOSE is a formula and is, therefore, dynamic. If you just need to do a one-time transpose operation, use Paste Special instead.

OFFSET

The OFFSET function is useful for all kinds of dynamic ranges. From a starting location, it lets you specify row and column offsets, and also the final row and column size. The result is a range that can respond dynamically to changing conditions and inputs. You can feed this range to other functions, as in the screen below, where OFFSET builds a range that is fed to the SUM function:

OFFSET function example

=SUM(OFFSET(B4,1,I4,4,1)) // sum of Q3

INDIRECT

The INDIRECT function allows you to build references as text. This concept is a bit tricky to understand at first, but it can be useful in many situations. Below, we are using INDIRECT to get values from cell A1 in 5 different worksheets. Each reference is dynamic. If a sheet name changes, the reference will update.

INDIRECT function example

=INDIRECT(B5&"!A1") // =Sheet1!A1

The INDIRECT function is also used to «lock» references so they won’t change, when rows or columns are added or deleted. For more details, see linked examples at the bottom of the INDIRECT function page.

Caution: both OFFSET and INDIRECT are volatile functions and can slow down large or complicated spreadsheets.

STATISTICAL Functions

COUNT and COUNTA

You can count numbers with the COUNT function and non-empty cells with COUNTA. You can count blank cells with COUNTBLANK, but in the screen below we are counting blank cells with COUNTIF, which is more generally useful.

COUNT and COUNTA function examples

=COUNT(B5:F5) // count numbers
=COUNTA(B5:F5) // count numbers and text
=COUNTIF(B5:F5,"") // count blanks

COUNTIF and COUNTIFS

For conditional counts, the COUNTIF function can apply one criteria. The COUNTIFS function can apply multiple criteria at the same time:

COUNTIF and COUNTIFS function examples

=COUNTIF(C5:C12,"red") // count red
=COUNTIF(F5:F12,">50") // count total > 50
=COUNTIFS(C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"TX") // red and tx
=COUNTIFS(C5:C12,"blue",F5:F12,">50") // blue > 50

Video: How to use the COUNTIF function

SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS

To sum everything, use the SUM function. To sum conditionally, use SUMIF or SUMIFS. Following the same pattern as the counting functions, the SUMIF function can apply only one criteria while the SUMIFS function can apply multiple criteria.

SUM, SUMIFS, and SUMIFS function examples

=SUM(F5:F12) // everything
=SUMIF(C5:C12,"red",F5:F12) // red only
=SUMIF(F5:F12,">50") // over 50
=SUMIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"tx") // red & tx
=SUMIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"blue",F5:F12,">50") // blue & >50

Video: How to use the SUMIF function

AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS

Following the same pattern, you can calculate an average with AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS.

AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS function examples

=AVERAGE(F5:F12) // all
=AVERAGEIF(C5:C12,"red",F5:F12) // red only
=AVERAGEIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"tx") // red and tx

MIN, MAX, LARGE, SMALL

You can find largest and smallest values with MAX and MIN, and nth largest and smallest values with LARGE and SMALL. In the screen below, data is the named range C5:C13, used in all formulas.

MAX, MIN, LARGE, and SMALL function examples

=MAX(data) // largest
=MIN(data) // smallest
=LARGE(data,1) // 1st largest
=LARGE(data,2) // 2nd largest
=LARGE(data,3) // 3rd largest
=SMALL(data,1) // 1st smallest
=SMALL(data,2) // 2nd smallest
=SMALL(data,3) // 3rd smallest

Video: How to find the nth smallest or largest value

MINIFS, MAXIFS

The MINIFS and MAXIFS. These functions let you find minimum and maximum values with conditions:

MINIFS and MAXIFS function examples

=MAXIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"female") // highest female
=MAXIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"male") // highest male
=MINIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"female") // lowest female
=MINIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"male") // lowest male

Note: MINIFS and MAXIFS are new in Excel via Office 365 and Excel 2019.

MODE

The MODE function returns the most commonly occurring number in a range:

MODE function example

=MODE(B5:G5) // returns 1

RANK

To rank values largest to smallest, or smallest to largest, use the RANK function:

RANK function example

Video: How to rank values with the RANK function

MATH Functions

ABS

To change negative values to positive use the ABS function.

ABS function example

=ABS(-134.50) // returns 134.50

RAND and RANDBETWEEN

Both the RAND function and RANDBETWEEN function can generate random numbers on the fly. RAND creates long decimal numbers between zero and 1. RANDBETWEEN generates random integers between two given numbers.

RAND and RANDBETWEEN function examples

=RAND() // between zero and 1
=RANDBETWEEN(1,100) // between 1 and 100

ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, INT

To round values up or down, use the ROUND function. To force rounding up to a given number of digits, use ROUNDUP. To force rounding down, use ROUNDDOWN. To discard the decimal part of a number altogether, use the INT function.

ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, INT function examples

=ROUND(11.777,1) // returns 11.8
=ROUNDUP(11.777) // returns 11.8
=ROUNDDOWN(11.777,1) // returns 11.7
=INT(11.777) // returns 11

MROUND, CEILING, FLOOR

To round values to the nearest multiple use the MROUND function. The FLOOR function and CEILING function also round to a given multiple. FLOOR forces rounding down, and CEILING forces rounding up.

MROUND, CEILING, FLOOR functions

=MROUND(13.85,.25) // returns 13.75
=CEILING(13.85,.25) // returns 14
=FLOOR(13.85,.25) // returns 13.75

MOD

The MOD function returns the remainder after division. This sounds boring and geeky, but MOD turns up in all kinds of formulas, especially formulas that need to do something «every nth time». In the screen below, you can see how MOD returns zero every third number when the divisor is 3:

MOD function example

SUMPRODUCT

The SUMPRODUCT function is a powerful and versatile tool when dealing with all kinds of data. You can use SUMPRODUCT to easily count and sum based on criteria, and you can use it in elegant ways that just don’t work with COUNTIFS and SUMIFS. In the screen below, we are using SUMPRODUCT to count and sum orders in March. See the SUMPRODUCT page for details and links to many examples.

SUMPRODUCT function example

=SUMPRODUCT(--(MONTH(B5:B12)=3)) // count March
=SUMPRODUCT(--(MONTH(B5:B12)=3),C5:C12) // sum March

SUBTOTAL

The SUBTOTAL function is an «aggregate function» that can perform a number of operations on a set of data. All told, SUBTOTAL can perform 11 operations, including SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, MIN, etc. (see this page for the full list). The key feature of SUBTOTAL is that it will ignore rows that have been «filtered out» of an Excel Table, and, optionally, rows that have been manually hidden. In the screen below, SUBTOTAL is used to count and sum only the 7 visible rows in the table:

SUBTOTAL function example

=SUBTOTAL(3,B5:B14) // returns 7
=SUBTOTAL(9,F5:F14) // returns 9.54

AGGREGATE

Like SUBTOTAL, the AGGREGATE function can also run a number of aggregate operations on a set of data and can optionally ignore hidden rows. The key differences are that AGGREGATE can run more operations (19 total) and can also ignore errors.

In the screen below, AGGREGATE is used to perform MIN, MAX, LARGE and SMALL operations while ignoring errors. Normally, the error in cell B9 would prevent these functions from returning a result. See this page for a full list of operations AGGREGATE can perform.

AGGREGATE function example

=AGGREGATE(4,6,values) // MAX ignore errors, returns 100
=AGGREGATE(5,6,values) // MIN ignore errors, returns 75

TEXT Functions

LEFT, RIGHT, MID

To extract characters from the left, right, or middle of text, use LEFT, RIGHT, and MID functions:

LEFT, RIGHT, MID function examples

=LEFT("ABC-1234-RED",3) // returns "ABC"
=MID("ABC-1234-RED",5,4) // returns "1234"
=RIGHT("ABC-1234-RED",3) // returns "RED"

LEN

The LEN function will return the length of a text string. LEN shows up in a lot of formulas that count words or characters.

LEN function example

FIND, SEARCH

To look for specific text in a cell, use the FIND function or SEARCH function. These functions return the numeric position of matching text, but SEARCH allows wildcards and FIND is case-sensitive. Both functions will throw an error when text is not found, so wrap in the ISNUMBER function to return TRUE or FALSE (example here).

FIND and SEARCH function examples

=FIND("Better the devil you know","devil") // returns 12
=SEARCH("This is not my beautiful wife","bea*") // returns 12

REPLACE, SUBSTITUTE

To replace text by position, use the REPLACE function. To replace text by matching, use the SUBSTITUTE function. In the first example, REPLACE removes the two asterisks (**) by replacing the first two characters with an empty string («»). In the second example, SUBSTITUTE removes all hash characters (#) by replacing «#» with «».

REPLACE and SUBSTITUTE function examples

=REPLACE("**Red",1,2,"") // returns "Red"
=SUBSTITUTE("##Red##","#","") // returns "Red"

CODE, CHAR

To figure out the numeric code for a character, use the CODE function. To translate the numeric code back to a character, use the CHAR function. In the example below, CODE translates each character in column B to its corresponding code. In column F, CHAR translates the code back to a character.

CODE and CHAR function examples

=CODE("a") // returns 97
=CHAR(97) // returns "a"

Video: How to use the CODE and CHAR functions

TRIM, CLEAN

To get rid of extra space in text, use the TRIM function. To remove line breaks and other non-printing characters, use CLEAN.

TRIM and CLEAN function examples

=TRIM(A1) // remove extra space
=CLEAN(A1) // remove line breaks

Video: How to clean text with TRIM and CLEAN

CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, CONCATENATE

New in Excel  via Office 365 are CONCAT and TEXTJOIN. The CONCAT function lets you concatenate (join) multiple values, including a range of values without a delimiter. The TEXTJOIN function does the same thing, but allows you to specify a delimiter and can also ignore empty values.

CONCAT and TEXTJOIN function examples

=TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,B4:H4) // returns "red,blue,green,pink,black"
=CONCAT(B7:H7) // returns "8675309"

Excel also provides the CONCATENATE function, but it doesn’t offer special features. I wouldn’t bother with it and would instead concatenate directly with the ampersand (&) character in a formula.

EXACT

The EXACT function allows you to compare two text strings in a case-sensitive manner.

EXACT function example

UPPER, LOWER, PROPER

To change the case of text, use the UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER function

UPPER, LOWER, PROPER function examples

=UPPER("Sue BROWN") // returns "SUE BROWN"
=LOWER("Sue BROWN") // returns "sue brown"
=PROPER("Sue BROWN") // returns "Sue Brown"

Video: How to change case with formulas

TEXT

Last but definitely not least is the TEXT function. The text function lets you apply number formatting to numbers (including dates, times, etc.) as text. This is especially useful when you need to embed a formatted number in a message, like «Sale ends on [date]».

TEXT function example

=TEXT(B5,"$#,##0.00") 
=TEXT(B6,"000000")
="Save "&TEXT(B7,"0%")
="Sale ends "&TEXT(B8,"mmm d")

More: Detailed examples of custom number formatting.

Dynamic Array functions

Dynamic arrays are new in Excel 365, and are a major upgrade to Excel’s formula engine. As part of the dynamic array update, Excel includes new functions which directly leverage dynamic arrays to solve problems that are traditionally hard to solve with conventional formulas. If you are using Excel 365, make sure you are aware of these new functions:

Function Purpose
FILTER Filter data and return matching records
RANDARRAY Generate array of random numbers
SEQUENCE Generate array of sequential numbers
SORT Sort range by column
SORTBY Sort range by another range or array
UNIQUE Extract unique values from a list or range
XLOOKUP Modern replacement for VLOOKUP
XMATCH Modern replacement for the MATCH function

Video: New dynamic array functions in Excel (about 3 minutes).

Quick navigation

ABS, AGGREGATE, AND, AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, CEILING, CHAR, CHOOSE, CLEAN, CODE, COLUMN, COLUMNS, CONCAT, CONCATENATE, CONVERT, COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, DATE, DATEDIF, DAY, EDATE, EOMONTH, EXACT, FIND, FLOOR, GETPIVOTDATA, HLOOKUP, HOUR, HYPERLINK, IF, IFERROR, IFNA, IFS, INDEX, INDIRECT, INT, ISBLANK, ISERROR, ISEVEN, ISFORMULA, ISLOGICAL, ISNUMBER, ISODD, ISTEXT, LARGE, LEFT, LEN, LOOKUP, LOWER, MATCH, MAX, MAXIFS, MID, MIN, MINIFS, MINUTE, MOD, MODE, MONTH, MROUND, NETWORKDAYS, NOT, NOW, OFFSET, OR, PROPER, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, RANK, REPLACE, RIGHT, ROUND, ROUNDDOWN, ROUNDUP, ROW, ROWS, SEARCH, SECOND, SMALL, SUBSTITUTE, SUBTOTAL, SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT, TEXT, TEXTJOIN, TIME, TODAY, TRANSPOSE, TRIM, UPPER, VLOOKUP, WEEKDAY, WEEKNUM, WORKDAY, YEAR, YEARFRAC 

Here you will find a detailed tutorial on 100+ Excel Functions & VBA Functions. Each Excel function is covered in detail with Examples and Videos.

Excel Functions – Date and Time

Excel Function Description
Excel DATE Function

Excel DATE function can be used when you want to get the date value using the year, month and, day values as the input arguments. It returns a serial number that represents a specific date in Excel.

​Excel DATEVALUE Function

Excel DATEVALUE function is best suited for situations when a date is stored as text. This function converts the date from text format to a serial number that Excel recognizes as a date.

Excel DAY Function

Excel DAY function can be used when you want to get the day value (ranging between 1 to 31) from a specified date. It returns a value between 0 and 31 depending on the date used as the input.

Excel HOUR Function

Excel HOUR function can be used when you want to get the HOUR integer value from a specified time value. It returns a value between 0 (12:00 A.M.) and 23 (11:00 P.M.) depending on the time value used as the input

Excel MINUTE Function

Excel MINUTE function can be used when you want to get the MINUTE integer value from a specified time value. It returns a value between 0 and 59 depending on the time value used as the input.

Excel NETWORKDAYS Function Excel NETWORKDAYS function can be used when you want to get the number of working days between two given dates. It does not count the weekends between the specified dates (by default the weekend is Saturday and Sunday). It can also exclude any specified holidays.
Excel NETWORKDAYS.INTL Function

Excel NETWORKDAYS.INTL function can be used when you want to get the number of working days between two given dates. It does not count the weekends and holidays, both of which can be specified by the user. It also enables you to specify the weekend (for example, you can specify Friday and Saturday as the weekend, or only Sunday as the weekend).

Excel NOW Function Excel NOW function can be used to get the current date and time value.
Excel SECOND Function

Excel SECOND function can be used want to get the integer value of the seconds from a specified time value. It returns a value between 0 and 59 depending on the time value used as the input.

Excel TODAY Function Excel TODAY function can be used to get the current date. It returns a serial number that represents the current date.
Excel WEEKDAY Function

Excel WEEKDAY function can be used to get the day of the week as a number for the specified date. It returns a number between 1 and 7 that represents the corresponding day of the week.

Excel WORKDAY Function

Excel WORKDAY function can be used when you want to get the date after a given number of working days. By default, it takes Saturday and Sunday as the weekend

Excel WORKDAY.INTL Function

Excel WORKDAY.INTL function can be used when you want to get the date after a given number of working days. In this function, you can specify the weekend to be days other than Saturday and Sunday.

Excel DATEDIF Function

Excel DATEDIF function can be used when you want to calculate the number of years, months, or days between the two specified dates. A good example would be calculating the age.

Excel Functions – Logical

Excel Function Description
Excel AND Function

Excel AND function can be used when you want to check multiple conditions. It returns TRUE only when all the given conditions are true.

Excel FALSE Function

Excel FALSE function returns the logical value FALSE. It does not take any input arguments.

Excel IF Function

Excel IF Function is best suited for situations where you want to evaluate a condition, and the return a value if it is TRUE and another value if it is FALSE.

Excel IFS Function

Excel IFS Function is best suited for situations where you want to test multiple conditions at once and then return the result based on it. This is helpful as you don’t have to create long nested IF formulas that can get confusing.

Excel IFERROR Function Excel IFERROR function is best-suited to handle formula that evaluates to an error. You can specify a value to show if the formula returns an error.
Excel NOT Function

Excel NOT function can be used when you want to reverse the value of a logical argument (TRUE/FALSE).

Excel OR Function Excel OR function can be used when you want to check multiple conditions. It returns TRUE if any of the given condition is true.
Excel TRUE Function

Excel TRUE function returns the logical value TRUE. It does not take any input arguments.

Excel Functions – Lookup & Reference

Excel Function Description
Excel COLUMN Function

Excel COLUMN function can be used when you want to get the column number of a specified cell.

Excel COLUMNS Function

Excel COLUMNS function can be used when you want to get the number of columns in a specified range or array. It returns a number that represents the total number of columns in the specified range or array.

Excel HLOOKUP Function

Excel HLOOKUP function is best suited for situations when you are looking for a matching data point in a row, and when the matching data point is found, you go down that column and fetch a value from a cell which is specified a number of rows below the top row.

Excel INDEX Function

Excel INDEX function can be used when you have the position (row number and column number) of a value in a table, and you want to fetch that value. This is often use with the MATCH function and is a powerful alternative to the VLOOKUP function.

Excel INDIRECT Function

Excel INDIRECT function can be used when you have the references as text and you want to get the values from those references. It returns the reference specified by the text string.

Excel MATCH Function

Excel MATCH function can be used when you want to get the relative position of a lookup value in a list or an array. It returns a number that represents the position of the lookup value in the array.

Excel OFFSET Function

Excel OFFSET function can be used when you want to get a reference which offsets specified number of rows and columns from the starting point. It returns the reference that OFFSET function points to.

Excel ROW Function

Excel ROW Function function can be used when you want to get the row number of a cell reference. For example, =ROW(B4) would return 4, as it is in the fourth row.

Excel ROWS Function

Excel ROWS Function can be used when you want to get the number of rows in a specified range or array. It returns a number that represents the total number of rows in the specified range or array.

Excel VLOOKUP Function

Excel VLOOKUP function is best suited for situations when you are looking for a matching data point in a column, and when the matching data point is found, you go to the right in that row and fetch a value from a cell which is a specified number of columns to the right.

Excel XLOOKUP Function

Excel XLOOKUP function is a new function for Office 365 users and is an enhanced version of the VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP functions. It can be used to lookup and fetch the value in a dataset, and can replace most of what we do with older lookup formulas.

Excel FILTER Function

Excel FILTER function is a new function for Office 365 users that allows you to quickly filter and extract data based on the given condition (or multiple conditions).

Excel Functions – Math

Excel Function Description
Excel INT Function

Excel INT Function can be used when you want to get the integer portion of a number.

Excel MOD Function

Excel MOD function can be used when you want to get the remainder when one number is divided by another. It returns a numerical value that represents the remainder when one number is divided by another.

Excel RAND Function

Excel RAND function can be used when you want to generate evenly distributed random numbers between 0 and 1. It returns a number between 0 and 1

Excel RANDBETWEEN Function

Excel RANDBETWEEN function can be used when you want to generate evenly distributed random numbers between a top and bottom range specified by the user. It returns a number between the top and bottom range specified by the user.

Excel ROUND Function

Excel ROUND function can be used when you want to return a number rounded to a specified number of digits.

Excel SUM Function Excel SUM function can be used to add all numbers in a range of cells.
Excel SUMIF Function

Excel SUMIF function can be used when you want to add the values in a range if the specified condition is met.

Excel SUMIFS Function

Excel SUMIFS function can be used when you want to add the values in a range if multiple specified criteria are met.

Excel SUMPRODUCT Function

Excel SUMPRODUCT function can be used when you want to first multiply two or more sets to arrays and then get its sum

Excel Functions – Statistics

Excel Function Description
Excel RANK Function

Excel RANK function can be used when you want to rank a number against a list of numbers. It returns a number that represents the relative rank of the number against the list of numbers.

Excel AVERAGE Function

Excel AVERAGE function can be used when you want to get the average (arithmetic mean) of the specified arguments.

Excel AVERAGEIF Function

Excel AVERAGEIF function can be used when you want to get the average (arithmetic mean) of all the values in a range of cells that meet a given criteria.

Excel AVERAGEIFS Function

Excel AVERAGEIFS function can be used when you want to get the average (arithmetic mean) of all the cells in a range that meets multiple criteria.

Excel COUNT Function Excel COUNT function can be used to count the number of cells that contain numbers.
Excel COUNTA Function

Excel COUNTA function can be used when you want to count all the cells in a range that are not empty.

Excel COUNTBLANK Function

Excel COUNTBALNK function can be used when you have to count all the empty cells in a range.

Excel COUNTIF Function

Excel COUNTIF function can be used when you want to count the number of cells that meet a specified criterion.

Excel COUNTIFS Function

Excel COUNTIFS function can be used when you want to count the number of cells that meet a single or multiple criteria.

Excel LARGE Function

Excel LARGE function can be used to get the Kth largest value from a range of cells or array. For example, you can get the third largest value from a range of cells.

Excel MAX Function

Excel MAX function can be used when you want to get the largest value from a set of values.

Excel MIN Function

Excel MIN function can be used when you want to get the smallest value from a set of values.

Excel SMALL Function

Excel SMALL function can be used to get the Kth smallest value from a range of cells or array. For example, you can get the third smallestvalue from a range of cells.

​Excel Functions – Text Functions

Excel Function Description
Excel CONCATENATE Function

Excel CONCATENATE function can be used when you want to join 2 or more characters or strings. It can be used to join text, numbers, cell references, or a combination of these.

Excel FIND Function

Excel FIND function can be used when you want to locate a text string within another text string and find its position. It returns a number that represents the starting position of the string you are finding in another string. It is case-sensitive.

Excel LEFT Function Excel LEFT function can be used to extract text from left of the string. It returns the specified number of characters from the left of the string
Excel LEN Function

Excel LEN function can be used when you want to get the total number of characters in a specified string. This is useful when you want to know the length of a string in a cell.

Excel LOWER Function

Excel LOWER function can be used when you want to convert all uppercase letter in a text string to lowercase. Numbers, special characters, and punctuations are not changed by the LOWER function.

Excel MID Function

Excel MID function can be used to extract a specified number of characters from a string. It returns the sub-string from a string.

Excel PROPER Function

Excel PROPER function can be used when you want to capitalize the first character of every word. Numbers, special characters, and punctuations are not changed by the PROPER function.

Excel REPLACE Function

Excel REPLACE function can be used when you want to replace a part of the text string with another string. It returns a text string where a part of the text has been replaced by the specified string.

Excel REPT Function

Excel REPT function can be used when you want to repeat a specified text a certain number of times.

Excel RIGHT Function The RIGHT function can be used to extract text from the right of the string. It returns the specified number of characters from the right of the string
Excel SEARCH Function

Excel SEARCH function can be used when you want to locate a text string within another text string and find its position. It returns a number that represents the starting position of the string you are finding in another string. It is NOT case-sensitive.

Excel SUBSTITUTE Function

Excel SUBSTITUTE function can be used when you want to substitute text with new specified text in a string. It returns a text string where an old text has been substituted by the new one.

Excel TEXT Function

Excel TEXT function can be used when you want to convert a number to text format and display it in a specified format.

Excel TRIM Function Excel TRIM function can be used when you want to remove leading, trailing, and double spaces in Excel.
Excel UPPER Function Excel UPPER function can be used when you want to convert all lowercase letters in a text string to uppercase. Numbers, special characters, and punctuations are not changed by the UPPER function.

Excel Functions – Info

Excel Function Description
Excel ISBLANK Function

Excel ISERROR Function

Excel ISNA Function

Excel ISNUMBER Function

Excel ISEVEN Function

Excel ISODD Function

Excel ISLOGICAL Function

Excel ISTEXT Function

Excel IS function returns TRUE when specified condition is TRUE. For example, ISNA would return TRUE if the cell has a #N/A! error.

Excel Functions – Financial

Excel Function Description
​Excel PMT Function Excel PMT function helps you calculate the payment you need to make for a loan when you know the total loan amount, interest rate, and the number of constant payments.
Excel NPV Function Excel NPV function allows you to calculate the Net Present Value of all the cashflows when you know the discount rate
Excel IRR Function Excel IRR function allows you to calculate the Internal Rate of Return when you have the cashflows data

VBA Functions

Excel Function Description
VBA TRIM Function

VBA TRIM function allows you to remove the leading and trailing spaces from a text string in Excel. It can be a useful VBA function if you want to quickly clean the data.

VBA SPLIT Function

VBA SPLIT function alllows you to split a text string based on the delimiter. For example, if you want to split text based on a comma or tab or colon, you can do that with the SPLIT function.

VBA MsgBox Function

VBA MsgBox is a function that displays a dialog box that you can use to inform your users by showing a custom message or get some basic inputs (such as Yes/No or OK/Cancel).

VBA INSTR Function

VBA InStr function finds the position of a specified substring within the string and returns the first position of its occurrence.

VBA UCase Function

Excel VBA UCASE function takes a string as the input and converts all the lower case characters into upper case.

VBA LCase Function

Excel VBA LCASE function takes a string as the input and converts all the upper case characters into lower case.

VBA DIR Function

Use VBA DIR function when you want to get the name of the file or a folder, using their path name

Useful Excel Resources:

  • 100+ Excel Interview Questions
  • 200+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Free Excel Templates
  • Free Online Excel Training
  • Best Excel Books
  • Excel Formulas Not Working: Possible Reasons and How to FIX IT!
  • 20 Advanced Excel Functions and Formulas (for Excel Pros)
  • Formula vs Function in Excel – What’s the Difference?

Function

Description

AVEDEV function

Returns the average of the absolute deviations of data points from their mean

AVERAGE function

Returns the average of its arguments

AVERAGEA function

Returns the average of its arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values

AVERAGEIF function

Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all the cells in a range that meet a given criteria

AVERAGEIFS function

2019

Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all cells that meet multiple criteria

BETA.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the beta cumulative distribution function

BETA.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the cumulative distribution function for a specified beta distribution

BINOM.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the individual term binomial distribution probability

BINOM.DIST.RANGE function

Excel 2013

Returns the probability of a trial result using a binomial distribution

BINOM.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the smallest value for which the cumulative binomial distribution is less than or equal to a criterion value

CHISQ.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the cumulative beta probability density function

CHISQ.DIST.RT function

Excel 2010

Returns the one-tailed probability of the chi-squared distribution

CHISQ.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the cumulative beta probability density function

CHISQ.INV.RT function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the one-tailed probability of the chi-squared distribution

CHISQ.TEST function

Excel 2010

Returns the test for independence

CONFIDENCE.NORM function

Excel 2010

Returns the confidence interval for a population mean

CONFIDENCE.T function

Excel 2010

Returns the confidence interval for a population mean, using a Student’s t distribution

CORREL function

Returns the correlation coefficient between two data sets

COUNT function

Counts how many numbers are in the list of arguments

COUNTA function

Counts how many values are in the list of arguments

COUNTBLANK function

Counts the number of blank cells within a range

COUNTIF function

Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria

COUNTIFS function

2019

Counts the number of cells within a range that meet multiple criteria

COVARIANCE.P function

Excel 2010

Returns covariance, the average of the products of paired deviations

COVARIANCE.S function

Excel 2010

Returns the sample covariance, the average of the products deviations for each data point pair in two data sets

DEVSQ function

Returns the sum of squares of deviations

EXPON.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the exponential distribution

F.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the F probability distribution

F.DIST.RT function

Excel 2010

Returns the F probability distribution

F.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the F probability distribution

F.INV.RT function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the F probability distribution

F.TEST function

Excel 2010

Returns the result of an F-test

FISHER function

Returns the Fisher transformation

FISHERINV function

Returns the inverse of the Fisher transformation

FORECAST function

Returns a value along a linear trend

Note: In Excel 2016, this function is replaced with FORECAST.LINEAR as part of the new Forecasting functions, but it’s still available for compatibility with earlier versions.

FORECAST.ETS function

Excel 2016

Returns a future value based on existing (historical) values by using the AAA version of the Exponential Smoothing (ETS) algorithm

FORECAST.ETS.CONFINT function

Excel 2016

Returns a confidence interval for the forecast value at the specified target date

FORECAST.ETS.SEASONALITY function

Excel 2016

Returns the length of the repetitive pattern Excel detects for the specified time series

FORECAST.ETS.STAT function

Excel 2016

Returns a statistical value as a result of time series forecasting

FORECAST.LINEAR function

Excel 2016

Returns a future value based on existing values

FREQUENCY function

Returns a frequency distribution as a vertical array

GAMMA function

Excel 2013

Returns the Gamma function value

GAMMA.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the gamma distribution

GAMMA.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the gamma cumulative distribution

GAMMALN function

Returns the natural logarithm of the gamma function, Γ(x)

GAMMALN.PRECISE function

Excel 2010

Returns the natural logarithm of the gamma function, Γ(x)

GAUSS function

Excel 2013

Returns 0.5 less than the standard normal cumulative distribution

GEOMEAN function

Returns the geometric mean

GROWTH function

Returns values along an exponential trend

HARMEAN function

Returns the harmonic mean

HYPGEOM.DIST function

Returns the hypergeometric distribution

INTERCEPT function

Returns the intercept of the linear regression line

KURT function

Returns the kurtosis of a data set

LARGE function

Returns the k-th largest value in a data set

LINEST function

Returns the parameters of a linear trend

LOGEST function

Returns the parameters of an exponential trend

LOGNORM.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the cumulative lognormal distribution

LOGNORM.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the lognormal cumulative distribution

MAX function

Returns the maximum value in a list of arguments

MAXA function

Returns the maximum value in a list of arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values

MAXIFS function

2019

Returns the maximum value among cells specified by a given set of conditions or criteria

MEDIAN function

Returns the median of the given numbers

MIN function

Returns the minimum value in a list of arguments

MINA function

Returns the smallest value in a list of arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values

MINIFS function

2019

Returns the minimum value among cells specified by a given set of conditions or criteria.

MODE.MULT function

Excel 2010

Returns a vertical array of the most frequently occurring, or repetitive values in an array or range of data

MODE.SNGL function

Excel 2010

Returns the most common value in a data set

NEGBINOM.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the negative binomial distribution

NORM.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the normal cumulative distribution

NORM.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the normal cumulative distribution

NORM.S.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the standard normal cumulative distribution

NORM.S.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the standard normal cumulative distribution

PEARSON function

Returns the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient

PERCENTILE.EXC function

Excel 2010

Returns the k-th percentile of values in a range, where k is in the range 0..1, exclusive

PERCENTILE.INC function

Excel 2010

Returns the k-th percentile of values in a range

PERCENTRANK.EXC function

Excel 2010

Returns the rank of a value in a data set as a percentage (0..1, exclusive) of the data set

PERCENTRANK.INC function

Excel 2010

Returns the percentage rank of a value in a data set

PERMUT function

Returns the number of permutations for a given number of objects

PERMUTATIONA function

Excel 2013

Returns the number of permutations for a given number of objects (with repetitions) that can be selected from the total objects

PHI function

Excel 2013

Returns the value of the density function for a standard normal distribution

POISSON.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the Poisson distribution

PROB function

Returns the probability that values in a range are between two limits

QUARTILE.EXC function

Excel 2010

Returns the quartile of the data set, based on percentile values from 0..1, exclusive

QUARTILE.INC function

Excel 2010

Returns the quartile of a data set

RANK.AVG function

Excel 2010

Returns the rank of a number in a list of numbers

RANK.EQ function

Excel 2010

Returns the rank of a number in a list of numbers

RSQ function

Returns the square of the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient

SKEW function

Returns the skewness of a distribution

SKEW.P function

Excel 2013

Returns the skewness of a distribution based on a population: a characterization of the degree of asymmetry of a distribution around its mean

SLOPE function

Returns the slope of the linear regression line

SMALL function

Returns the k-th smallest value in a data set

STANDARDIZE function

Returns a normalized value

STDEV.P function

Excel 2010

Calculates standard deviation based on the entire population

STDEV.S function

Excel 2010

Estimates standard deviation based on a sample

STDEVA function

Estimates standard deviation based on a sample, including numbers, text, and logical values

STDEVPA function

Calculates standard deviation based on the entire population, including numbers, text, and logical values

STEYX function

Returns the standard error of the predicted y-value for each x in the regression

T.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the Percentage Points (probability) for the Student t-distribution

T.DIST.2T function

Excel 2010

Returns the Percentage Points (probability) for the Student t-distribution

T.DIST.RT function

Excel 2010

Returns the Student’s t-distribution

T.INV function

Excel 2010

Returns the t-value of the Student’s t-distribution as a function of the probability and the degrees of freedom

T.INV.2T function

Excel 2010

Returns the inverse of the Student’s t-distribution

T.TEST function

Excel 2010

Returns the probability associated with a Student’s t-test

TREND function

Returns values along a linear trend

TRIMMEAN function

Returns the mean of the interior of a data set

VAR.P function

Excel 2010

Calculates variance based on the entire population

VAR.S function

Excel 2010

Estimates variance based on a sample

VARA function

Estimates variance based on a sample, including numbers, text, and logical values

VARPA function

Calculates variance based on the entire population, including numbers, text, and logical values

WEIBULL.DIST function

Excel 2010

Returns the Weibull distribution

Z.TEST function

Excel 2010

Returns the one-tailed probability-value of a z-test

The most frequently used functions in Excel are:

  • AutoSum;
  • IF function;
  • LOOKUP function;
  • VLOOKUP function;
  • HLOOKUP function;
  • MATCH function;
  • CHOOSE function;
  • DATE function;

Contents

  • 1 What are the 5 functions in Excel?
  • 2 What are the 10 functions in Excel?
  • 3 What are the 4 major functions of Excel?
  • 4 What are the 20 Excel functions?
  • 5 How many functions are there in Excel?
  • 6 What are the most used functions in Excel?
  • 7 How many types of functions do you know?
  • 8 What is function in Excel with example?
  • 9 What are the six functions of MS Excel?
  • 10 Is there a for function in Excel?
  • 11 What are the 3 common uses for Excel?
  • 12 What are the 12 types of functions?
  • 13 What are the 4 types of functions?
  • 14 What are the 8 types of functions?
  • 15 What are spreadsheet functions?
  • 16 Which is an example of a function?
  • 17 What are the new functions in Excel?
  • 18 How do you use functions in Excel?
  • 19 How do you use the OR function in Excel?
  • 20 What are the types of functions in Excel?

5 Functions of Excel/Sheets That Every Professional Should Know

  • VLookup Formula.
  • Concatenate Formula.
  • Text to Columns.
  • Remove Duplicates.
  • Pivot Tables.

What are the 10 functions in Excel?

10 Excel Functions Every Marketer Should Know

  • Table Formatting. What it does: transforms your data into an interactive database.
  • Pivot Tables. What it does: summarizes data and finds unique values.
  • Charting.
  • COUNTIFS.
  • SUMIFS.
  • IF Statements.
  • CONCATENATE.
  • VLOOKUP.

What are the 4 major functions of Excel?

To help you get started, here are 5 important Excel functions you should learn today.

  • The SUM Function. The sum function is the most used function when it comes to computing data on Excel.
  • The TEXT Function.
  • The VLOOKUP Function.
  • The AVERAGE Function.
  • The CONCATENATE Function.

What are the 20 Excel functions?

  • Sum. “Sum” is probably the easiest and the most important Excel function at the same time.
  • Average. Another very important function.
  • If. Another must-use formula.
  • Sumif. Sumif is another very useful Excel formula.
  • Countif. Countif is a very useful function that works like a sumif.
  • Counta.
  • Vlookup.
  • Left, Right, Mid.

How many functions are there in Excel?

Though every Excel feature has a use case, no single person uses every Excel feature themselves. Cut through the 500+ functions, and you’re left with 100 or so truly useful functions and features for the majority of modern knowledge workers.

What are the most used functions in Excel?

SUM functions. Probably the most frequently used function in Excel (or any other spreadsheet program), =SUM does just that: It sums a column, row, or range of numbers—but it doesn’t just sum. It also subtracts, multiplies, divides, and uses any of the comparison operators to return a result of 1 (true) or 0 (false).

How many types of functions do you know?

There are three different forms of representation of functions. The functions need to be represented to showcase the domain values and the range values and the relationship between them.

What is function in Excel with example?

Functions are predefined formulas and are already available in Excel. For example, cell A3 below contains a formula which adds the value of cell A2 to the value of cell A1. For example, cell A3 below contains the SUM function which calculates the sum of the range A1:A2.

What are the six functions of MS Excel?

The six functions are CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, IFS, SWITCH, MAXIFS, and MINIFS. The new chart type is a funnel chart. At least two of these calculation functions are vast improvements over existing functionality.

Is there a for function in Excel?

The FOR… NEXT statement is a built-in function in Excel that is categorized as a Logical Function. It can be used as a VBA function (VBA) in Excel. As a VBA function, you can use this function in macro code that is entered through the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor.

What are the 3 common uses for Excel?

The three most common general uses for spreadsheet software are to create budgets, produce graphs and charts, and for storing and sorting data. Within business spreadsheet software is used to forecast future performance, calculate tax, completing basic payroll, producing charts and calculating revenues.

What are the 12 types of functions?

Terms in this set (12)

  • Quadratic. f(x)=x^2. D: -∞,∞ R: 0,∞
  • Reciprocal. f(x)=1/x. D: -∞,0 U 0,∞ R: -∞,0 U 0,∞ Odd.
  • Exponential. f(x)=e^x. D: -∞,∞ R: 0,∞
  • Sine. f(x)=SINx. D: -∞,∞ R: -1,1. Odd.
  • Greatest Integer. f(x)= [[x]] D: -∞,∞ R: {All Integers} Neither.
  • Absolute Value. f(x)= I x I. D: -∞,∞ R: 0,∞
  • Linear. f(x)=x. Odd.
  • Cubic. f(x)=x^3. Odd.

What are the 4 types of functions?

The various types of functions are as follows:

  • Many to one function.
  • One to one function.
  • Onto function.
  • One and onto function.
  • Constant function.
  • Identity function.
  • Quadratic function.
  • Polynomial function.

What are the 8 types of functions?

The eight types are linear, power, quadratic, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and sinusoidal.

What are spreadsheet functions?

A function is a predefined formula that performs calculations using specific values in a particular order. All spreadsheet programs include common functions that can be used for quickly finding the sum, average, count, maximum value, and minimum value for a range of cells.

Which is an example of a function?

The formula for the area of a circle is an example of a polynomial function.The graph of the function then consists of the points with coordinates (x, y) where y = f(x). For example, the graph of the cubic equation f(x) = x3 − 3x + 2 is shown in the figure.

What are the new functions in Excel?

New functions

  • CONCAT. This new function is like CONCATENATE, but better.
  • IFS. Tired of typing complicated, nested IF functions?
  • MAXIFS. This function returns the largest number in a range, that meets a single or multiple criteria.
  • MINIFS.
  • SWITCH.
  • TEXTJOIN.

How do you use functions in Excel?

Enter a formula that contains a built-in function

  1. Select an empty cell.
  2. Type an equal sign = and then type a function. For example, =SUM for getting the total sales.
  3. Type an opening parenthesis (.
  4. Select the range of cells, and then type a closing parenthesis).
  5. Press Enter to get the result.

How do you use the OR function in Excel?

The OR function is a logical function to test multiple conditions at the same time. OR returns either TRUE or FALSE. For example, to test A1 for either “x” or “y”, use =OR(A1=”x”,A1=”y”).

What are the types of functions in Excel?

Seven Basic Excel Formulas For Your Workflow

  • SUM. The SUM function. The function will sum up cells that are supplied as multiple arguments.
  • AVERAGE. The AVERAGE function.
  • COUNT. The COUNT function.
  • COUNTA. Like the COUNT function, COUNTA.
  • IF. The IF function.
  • TRIM. The TRIM function.
  • MAX & MIN. The MAX.

Formulas and functions are the building blocks of working with numeric data in Excel. This article introduces you to formulas and functions.

In this article, we will cover the following topics.

  • What is Formulas in Excel?
  • Mistakes to avoid when working with formulas in Excel
  • What is Function in Excel?
  • The importance of functions
  • Common functions
  • Numeric Functions
  • String functions
  • Date Time functions
  • V Lookup function

Tutorials Data

For this tutorial, we will work with the following datasets.

Home supplies budget

S/N ITEM QTY PRICE SUBTOTAL Is it Affordable?
1 Mangoes 9 600
2 Oranges 3 1200
3 Tomatoes 1 2500
4 Cooking Oil 5 6500
5 Tonic Water 13 3900

House Building Project Schedule

S/N ITEM START DATE END DATE DURATION (DAYS)
1 Survey land 04/02/2015 07/02/2015
2 Lay Foundation 10/02/2015 15/02/2015
3 Roofing 27/02/2015 03/03/2015
4 Painting 09/03/2015 21/03/2015

What is Formulas in Excel?

FORMULAS IN EXCEL is an expression that operates on values in a range of cell addresses and operators. For example, =A1+A2+A3, which finds the sum of the range of values from cell A1 to cell A3. An example of a formula made up of discrete values like =6*3.

=A2 * D2 / 2

HERE,

  • "=" tells Excel that this is a formula, and it should evaluate it.
  • "A2" * D2" makes reference to cell addresses A2 and D2 then multiplies the values found in these cell addresses.
  • "/" is the division arithmetic operator
  • "2" is a discrete value

Formulas practical exercise

We will work with the sample data for the home budget to calculate the subtotal.

  • Create a new workbook in Excel
  • Enter the data shown in the home supplies budget above.
  • Your worksheet should look as follows.

Introduction to formulas and functions in Excel

We will now write the formula that calculates the subtotal

Set the focus to cell E4

Enter the following formula.

=C4*D4

HERE,

  • "C4*D4" uses the arithmetic operator multiplication (*) to multiply the value of the cell address C4 and D4.

Press enter key

You will get the following result

Introduction to formulas and functions in Excel

The following animated image shows you how to auto select cell address and apply the same formula to other rows.

Introduction to formulas and functions in Excel

Mistakes to avoid when working with formulas in Excel

  1. Remember the rules of Brackets of Division, Multiplication, Addition, & Subtraction (BODMAS). This means expressions are brackets are evaluated first. For arithmetic operators, the division is evaluated first followed by multiplication then addition and subtraction is the last one to be evaluated. Using this rule, we can rewrite the above formula as =(A2 * D2) / 2. This will ensure that A2 and D2 are first evaluated then divided by two.
  2. Excel spreadsheet formulas usually work with numeric data; you can take advantage of data validation to specify the type of data that should be accepted by a cell i.e. numbers only.
  3. To ensure that you are working with the correct cell addresses referenced in the formulas, you can press F2 on the keyboard. This will highlight the cell addresses used in the formula, and you can cross check to ensure they are the desired cell addresses.
  4. When you are working with many rows, you can use serial numbers for all the rows and have a record count at the bottom of the sheet. You should compare the serial number count with the record total to ensure that your formulas included all the rows.

Check Out
Top 10 Excel Spreadsheet Formulas

What is Function in Excel?

FUNCTION IN EXCEL is a predefined formula that is used for specific values in a particular order. Function is used for quick tasks like finding the sum, count, average, maximum value, and minimum values for a range of cells. For example, cell A3 below contains the SUM function which calculates the sum of the range A1:A2.

  • SUM for summation of a range of numbers
  • AVERAGE for calculating the average of a given range of numbers
  • COUNT for counting the number of items in a given range

The importance of functions

Functions increase user productivity when working with excel. Let’s say you would like to get the grand total for the above home supplies budget. To make it simpler, you can use a formula to get the grand total. Using a formula, you would have to reference the cells E4 through to E8 one by one. You would have to use the following formula.

= E4 + E5 + E6 + E7 + E8

With a function, you would write the above formula as

=SUM (E4:E8)

As you can see from the above function used to get the sum of a range of cells, it is much more efficient to use a function to get the sum than using the formula which will have to reference a lot of cells.

Common functions

Let’s look at some of the most commonly used functions in ms excel formulas. We will start with statistical functions.

S/N FUNCTION CATEGORY DESCRIPTION USAGE
01 SUM Math & Trig Adds all the values in a range of cells =SUM(E4:E8)
02 MIN Statistical Finds the minimum value in a range of cells =MIN(E4:E8)
03 MAX Statistical Finds the maximum value in a range of cells =MAX(E4:E8)
04 AVERAGE Statistical Calculates the average value in a range of cells =AVERAGE(E4:E8)
05 COUNT Statistical Counts the number of cells in a range of cells =COUNT(E4:E8)
06 LEN Text Returns the number of characters in a string text =LEN(B7)
07 SUMIF Math & Trig Adds all the values in a range of cells that meet a specified criteria.
=SUMIF(range,criteria,[sum_range])
=SUMIF(D4:D8,”>=1000″,C4:C8)
08 AVERAGEIF Statistical Calculates the average value in a range of cells that meet the specified criteria.
=AVERAGEIF(range,criteria,[average_range])
=AVERAGEIF(F4:F8,”Yes”,E4:E8)
09 DAYS Date & Time Returns the number of days between two dates =DAYS(D4,C4)
10 NOW Date & Time Returns the current system date and time =NOW()

Numeric Functions

As the name suggests, these functions operate on numeric data. The following table shows some of the common numeric functions.

S/N FUNCTION CATEGORY DESCRIPTION USAGE
1 ISNUMBER Information Returns True if the supplied value is numeric and False if it is not numeric =ISNUMBER(A3)
2 RAND Math & Trig Generates a random number between 0 and 1 =RAND()
3 ROUND Math & Trig Rounds off a decimal value to the specified number of decimal points =ROUND(3.14455,2)
4 MEDIAN Statistical Returns the number in the middle of the set of given numbers =MEDIAN(3,4,5,2,5)
5 PI Math & Trig Returns the value of Math Function PI(π) =PI()
6 POWER Math & Trig Returns the result of a number raised to a power.
POWER( number, power )
=POWER(2,4)
7 MOD Math & Trig Returns the Remainder when you divide two numbers =MOD(10,3)
8 ROMAN Math & Trig Converts a number to roman numerals =ROMAN(1984)

String functions

These basic excel functions are used to manipulate text data. The following table shows some of the common string functions.

S/N FUNCTION CATEGORY DESCRIPTION USAGE COMMENT
1 LEFT Text Returns a number of specified characters from the start (left-hand side) of a string =LEFT(“GURU99”,4) Left 4 Characters of “GURU99”
2 RIGHT Text Returns a number of specified characters from the end (right-hand side) of a string =RIGHT(“GURU99”,2) Right 2 Characters of “GURU99”
3 MID Text Retrieves a number of characters from the middle of a string from a specified start position and length.
=MID (text, start_num, num_chars)
=MID(“GURU99”,2,3) Retrieving Characters 2 to 5
4 ISTEXT Information Returns True if the supplied parameter is Text =ISTEXT(value) value – The value to check.
5 FIND Text Returns the starting position of a text string within another text string. This function is case-sensitive.
=FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])
=FIND(“oo”,”Roofing”,1) Find oo in “Roofing”, Result is 2
6 REPLACE Text Replaces part of a string with another specified string.
=REPLACE (old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)
=REPLACE(“Roofing”,2,2,”xx”) Replace “oo” with “xx”

Date Time Functions

These functions are used to manipulate date values. The following table shows some of the common date functions

S/N FUNCTION CATEGORY DESCRIPTION USAGE
1 DATE Date & Time Returns the number that represents the date in excel code =DATE(2015,2,4)
2 DAYS Date & Time Find the number of days between two dates =DAYS(D6,C6)
3 MONTH Date & Time Returns the month from a date value =MONTH(“4/2/2015”)
4 MINUTE Date & Time Returns the minutes from a time value =MINUTE(“12:31”)
5 YEAR Date & Time Returns the year from a date value =YEAR(“04/02/2015”)

VLOOKUP function

The VLOOKUP function is used to perform a vertical look up in the left most column and return a value in the same row from a column that you specify. Let’s explain this in a layman’s language. The home supplies budget has a serial number column that uniquely identifies each item in the budget. Suppose you have the item serial number, and you would like to know the item description, you can use the VLOOKUP function. Here is how the VLOOKUP function would work.

Introduction to formulas and functions in Excel

=VLOOKUP (C12, A4:B8, 2, FALSE)

HERE,

  • "=VLOOKUP" calls the vertical lookup function
  • "C12" specifies the value to be looked up in the left most column
  • "A4:B8" specifies the table array with the data
  • "2" specifies the column number with the row value to be returned by the VLOOKUP function
  • "FALSE," tells the VLOOKUP function that we are looking for an exact match of the supplied look up value

The animated image below shows this in action

Introduction to formulas and functions in Excel

Download the above Excel Code

Summary

Excel allows you to manipulate the data using formulas and/or functions. Functions are generally more productive compared to writing formulas. Functions are also more accurate compared to formulas because the margin of making mistakes is very minimum.

Here is a list of important Excel Formula and Function

  • SUM function = =SUM(E4:E8)
  • MIN function = =MIN(E4:E8)
  • MAX function = =MAX(E4:E8)
  • AVERAGE function = =AVERAGE(E4:E8)
  • COUNT function = =COUNT(E4:E8)
  • DAYS function = =DAYS(D4,C4)
  • VLOOKUP function = =VLOOKUP (C12, A4:B8, 2, FALSE)
  • DATE function = =DATE(2020,2,4)

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