Formulas and Functions in MS Excel PDF
Formulas and Functions in MS Excel PDF
Formulas and Functions in MS Excel PDF
In a formula, we refer to a cell using the cell referencing. There are three types of cell referencing in MS
Excel 2007:
1. Relative Referencing
2. Absolute Referencing
3. Mixed Referencing
Relative Referencing: In Relative referencing, when we copy a formula to different cells, the cell
addresses in the formula change accordingly to the rows and columns where the formula is being
copied.
Example: =B2+C2
Absolute Referencing: In Absolute referencing, when we copy a formula to different cells, the cell
address in the formula remains the same irrespective of where the formula is being copied.
To make a cell address absolute, add a $ sign before the row and column address of the cell in the
formula.
Example: =B2+C2+$E$2
Mixed Referencing: In Mixed referencing we can mark either a row or a column (in a cell
address) as Absolute and the other stays relative.
Example: = B$1+$C2
Note: You can also drag the AutoFill Handle to copy the formula in the rest of the cells.
Functions: Functions are the special pre- written formulas and instructions that ‘accept’ the values
as Arguments and ‘return’ the values in the cells in which they have been typed.
Syntax: = Function name(Arguments)
Arguments: Arguments can be of the following format:
a. Constants: These values can be used directly in the Function. For example, = SUM(12,45,13)
will return the value 70.
b. Cells or Cell Range: The cell reference or the range of cells can also be specified as the
Arguments. For example, =ABS(-45) or =SUM(C5:C10) or =AVERAGE(A1:A5)
Entering Functions:
1. All functions begin with an “=” sign.
2. Parentheses ( ) are used to ‘open’ and ‘close’ the function.
3. All Arguments are given inside the parentheses.
4. You can separate the Arguments with a comma, or you can give the cell range.
Statistical Functions: These functions are used for doing statistical analysis like finding averages,
maximum or minimum value, etc.
For example, = Average(num1, num2 ....), =Max(num1,num2….), =Min(num1,num2….)
Logical Functions: In a Logical function, we can pass a condition in the form of Arguments and it
returns a ‘True’ or ‘False’ value depending upon the satisfaction of the criteria of the condition.
Syntax: =If(Logical Test, True action, False action)
For example: =If(B2>70, “Laptop”,”Camera”)
Text Functions: These functions are used for the manipulation of the text strings. A text string is
passed as the argument and the function returns the manipulated result.
For example, =Concatenate(“text1”, “text2”), =Len(“text”), =Lower(“text”), =Upper(“text”),
=Left(“text”, number of characters(n)), =Right(text ,number of characters(n)), =Mid(text, start
position, number of characters(n)), =Clean(“text”)
Date and Time functions: These functions are used to handle the date and time. We can use these
functions to display the date and time in the desired format.
For example, = Today( ), =Now( ), =Date(year,month,day)
PRACTICE QUESTIONS