Functions in Excel. Structure of a function: Basic Mathematical Functions. Arithmetic operators: Comparison Operators:

Transcription

1 Page1 Functions in Excel Formulas (functions) are equations that perform calculations on values in your spreadsheet. A formula always starts with an equal sign (=). Example: =5+2*7 This formula multiples 2 by 7 and adds it to 5. Structure of a function: A function starts with an equal sign (=), followed by the function name, an opening parenthesis, the values for the function (called arguments) in a particular order or structure, and a closing parenthesis. To see a list of function names in Excel press Shift +F3 The Insert function dialog box then displays. Click on any function in the dialog box and a description will appear below it. Operators specify the type of calculation that you want to perform on the elements of a formula. There is a default order in which calculations occur, but you can change this order by using parentheses. Basic Mathematical Functions There are four different types of calculation operators that you can perform in Excel: arithmetic, comparison, text concatenation, and reference. 1 Arithmetic operators: Use to perform basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtrations, or multiplication, combine numbers, and produce numeric results. Comparison Operators: You can compare two values with the following operators. When two values are compared by using these operators, the result is a logical value either TRUE or FALSE. 1 See Microsoft Excel Help menu

2 Page2 Reference Operators Combine ranges of cells for calculations with the following operators. Text concatenation operator Use the ampersand (&) to join, or concatenate, one or more text strings to produce a single piece of text. Calculation Order What you need to know about how Excel performs its calculations: A formula in Excel always begins with an equal sign (=). This tells Excel that the succeeding characters constitute a formula. Following the equal sign are the elements to be calculated (the operands), which are separated by the calculation operators. Excel calculates formula values in a specific order, beginning from left to right, according to a specific order for each operator (+, -, *, /, ). Multiplication is calculated before addition. Use of parentheses If you want to change the order of the calculation, enclose the part of the formula to be calculated first in parentheses. For example, the first formula below produces 11 because Excel calculates multiplication before addition. The formula multiplies 2 by 3 and then adds 5 to the result. The second formula using parentheses produces a different result. It adds 5 and 2 and then multiples that total by 3. =5+2*3 11 = (5+2)*3 21 Entering Equations 1. Select the cell in which you want to apply a formula and then 2. Click in the formula bar. 3. Write an addition equation. Use cell addresses to write an equation that can apply to that cell if the contents

3 Page3 change. If you were to state the process for adding the numbers in column B it would be "six plus three." The equation could be written exactly like that (=6+3) and Excel would display the expected answer, 9. However that equation would be useless if the numbers in either B3 or B4 were changed. When writing your own equation, use cell addresses. The equation to total the information in column B is =SUM B3+B4 Create an equation that adds sequential numbers across a row 1. Place your cursor in the cell where you want your total to appear. This is where you want your total to appear. 2. Type an equal sign (=) 3. Next, type the word SUM. This is the operation that you wish to perform. 4. Type an open parenthesis The range of cells that you want to add needs to be enclosed in parentheses. 5. Then drag your cursor over the range of cells that you want included. 6. Type a closed parenthesis to finish the equation. The final equation should look like this: =sum(b5:d5) 7. Press <Enter> to get the result of your equation. Use AutoSum Because adding numbers is probably the most common function that Excel is used for, Excel has a built-in Feature called AutoSum located on the Home Tab. AutoSum is represented as the Greek Capital letter Sigma Σ. You can use AutoSum to sum a range of cells. A Range can be one single cell, or many cells. You can sum cells in a contiguous (no gaps) range of cells, or a non-contiguous (cells not joined together) range. a. Highlight the cells which you want to sum. b. Click the AutoSum icon on the Home tab. The total will be calculated and displayed in the cell next to or below (depending upon whether you choose a row or column select) your selections. Copy equations to multiple locations A. Click in a cell which has your formula and then click copy. B. Select your range of cells. C. Hold the Ctrl key down and select your new range of cells. D. Hold the Ctrl key down and select a second range of cells.

4 Page4 E. Click Paste. Create equations that add numbers that are not sequential a. Click in the cell where you want to begin. To create an equation that will add the data from 4 cells, you first need to type an equal sign (=), the word SUM, and an open parenthesis. b. Now move the cursor to the first cell you want to select and click on the cell. c. Type a plus sign +. d. Click on the next cell you want to select then type a plus sign +. e. Click on another cell and type a plus sign +. f. Click on the last cell whose data you want to include. This is the last number in your equation. g. Type a closed parenthesis. The equation should read =sum(cell1+cell2+cell3+cell4) h. Press <Enter> to display the result. i. Copy the equation in your selected cell to other cells Text Concatenation Example Concatenation will allow you to merger the column with the First Name and the column with the Last Name into a single column. Open the ABC Company Payroll file. Click on the column header D and right click to insert a new blank column. Click in the first cell of the new column Cell D5. Type in =B5&C5 This operation combines (concatenates) the content in the two cells. However, some modification to the formula is necessary because you will undoubtedly want a space between the two words. To insert this space use the following formula: =B5&" "&C5. The quotation marks around the blank space will give you a blank space in the new cell.

5 Page5 If some of the names are in all upper case and others are in normal mixed case for proper names, you can use the Proper function to change them all to the proper case. Simply place the word PROPER after your equal sign and then put your formula to which this should be applied in parentheses. This will change the case of the contents in your new cell. To apply this formula to the entire contents of the new column D grab the handle in the bottom right corner of cell D5 with the contents Sara Kling and drag it down the column. This action will auto fill the column using the formula you applied in cell D5. Use format painter to copy formatting. To quickly copy formatting from one part of a sheet to another, or to another sheet in the same workbook, use the Format Painter. 1. Add all the formatting options you want to use to at least one cell. 2. Click on that cell with the mouse pointer to make it the active cell. 3. Click on the Format Painter icon on the Home tab. 4. Click on the cell that you want to copy the formatting to. You can click and drag your mouse pointer to copy formatting between adjacent cells. Follow steps 1 3 above and then: 1. Click on the first cell and then drag the mouse pointer to select additional cells. To copy formatting between non-adjacent cells follow steps 1-2 above, double click the Format Painter icon and then: 2. Click on the first cell you want to copy the formatting to and then continue clicking on additional cells to copy the formatting to these cells as well. 3. Click on the Format Painter icon on the Home tab to turn it off. 4. To copy a cell s formatting to multiple cells, double click on the selected cell and the format painter. Use the fill handle to fill data To quickly fill in several types of data series, you can select cells and drag the fill

6 Page6 handle. To use the fill handle, you select the cells that you want to use as a basis for filling additional cells, and then drag the fill handle across or down the cells that you want to fill. Auto Fill and AutoComplete Make repetitious actions easier and less boring. Use AutoFill to avoid have to type in repetitive data such as months, days of the week, years, where there is a pattern. Excel will detect the pattern and fill it in for you. To use AutoFill: 1. Place your cursor on the bottom right of the cell(s) with your pattern. A Black plus sign appears. 2. Click on it and drag it down or across in the column or row which you want to fill. 3. Be careful in how you select the cells that contain your pattern. For the example on the right you need to select cells 1, 2 and 3 and then grab the handle on the right. Excel now has enough data to determine that you want every other number. Problems with Using AutoFill when using formulas. Absolute Cell Reference - You can tell Excel to use one specific cell, and never move to another relative location in the calculations by using "absolute cell reference." To specify the cell, place a dollar sign before the column letter and before the row number. Thus, $B$10 says always use cell B10. AutoComplete Excel has a handy time-saving feature called AutoComplete. This will save you time when entering lots of similar information into a column. When you start entering data into a cell, Excel tries to guess what you are typing and show a match that you can accept by pressing the Enter key. The matches that Excel is supplying come from the contents of the cells above it in the column where you are making your new entry. Excel does NOT try to match with cells that contain only numbers, dates, or times. The cells must contain either text or a combination of text and numbers. For some people, AutoComplete can be annoying rather than time-saving. If you want to turn off the AutoComplete feature, follow these steps: 1. Click on the File tab and choose Options. 2. Click on the Advanced option on the left side of the window. 3. Clear the check box named Enable AutoComplete for Cell Values. 4. Click on OK.