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A Beginners Guide To Formulas In Excel
By Rich
One of the most useful tools in Microsoft Excel is the capability to apply formulas to the data within your spreadsheet. This tool is also one of the least understood. Just a little excel training will help you to understand some of the basic functions available, allowing you to produce useful models and perform some complex calculations.
How does a formula work?
Formulas are equations that will perform calculations on the values you have entered into your spreadsheet. A formula in Excel will always begin with a equals sign, this tells Excel that the characters following it constitute a formula. Following the equals sign are the elements of a calculation separated by calculation operators. A formula may contain any or all of the following, functions, references, constants and operators. An example of a simple formula is given below;
=PI()*(C6+5)
The above example contains each of these elements. We will now consider the role of each of these to understand how the formula works.
Functions
Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values in a particular order or structure. A function begins with an equals sign followed by the function name, an opening bracket, the arguments for the function separated by commas and then a closing bracket. For example, the PI() function returns the value of pi i.e. 3.142.
Operators
An operator is a sign or symbol that specifies the type of calculation that you want to perform on the elements of the formula. Operators may be of four types, mathematical e.g. * (multiplication sign), comparison e.g. greater than, logical e.g. & (and) and reference e.g. : (colon).
References
A reference identifies a cell or range of cells in a worksheet and tells Excel where to look for the data you want to use in the formula. You can
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