FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS AN INTRODUCTION. FORMULA BASICS All formulas begin with “=“ Simple/common...

FORMULA

S AND

FUNCTI

ONS

AN

IN

TR

OD

UC

TI O

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FORMULA BASICS

All formulas begin with “=“

Simple/common formulas use: * for multiplication / for division + for addiction - for subtraction

ORDER OF OPERATIONS

1. Parenthesis or brackets1. Do the math in the parenthesis according to the order of

operations before moving on to outside the parenthesis

2. Multiplication and division

3. Addition and subtraction

GETTING STARTED WITH FORMULAS

Select Formula from the toolbar and select Insert Function

Choose the function from the dialogue box that appears

Enter the desired cells for the function

Useful functions: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-functions-by-catego

ry-HP005204211.aspx

SUM

Adds up large numbers to get a total

NOW

=NOW()

Time and date stamps

Don’t forget the () at the end, for today

DATE

Enters the date for any given day

Important when using dates in other formulas

=DATE(year, month, day)

YEARFRAC

Shows the fraction of days between two dates

• Important: use the date function to enter dates! See previous slide

=Yearfrac(start_date, end_date)

CONCATENATE

Joining different texts into 1 sentence.

How?

=CONCATENATE(A1, “ “ , “ate“, “ “ , B1, “ “ , C1)

Make sure to include spaces!

“”’s around spaces and words you insert

Notice the spaces?

SEPARATING FIRST AND LAST NAMES

This will help you separate the first and last names on a long list, into separate cells.

First, highlight the list and select “Text to columns” in the data dropdown menu

Then, click next.

Select the separator you want. In this example, we’re using a comma.

Next, select a destination (cell) to start you new list, and click finish.

This: Becomes this:

CONDITIONAL FORMATTING

Helps organize data

First, input your information: Then, highlight it:

Choose “Conditional Formatting” in the toolbar”

Next, you can choose to use bars, colors, or icons to organize the data:

Color Scale:

Icons:

RULES

You can edit the rules for conditional formatting, by clicking on “manage rules” in the dropdown menu.

Here you can change the values for the different colors or icons, and many other options.