Living into the IT Era

Ganaba, Willy Boy E.

BSChE 3a

1. Define range names and use names in formulas Identify the parts of a function.

Range names are user-defined labels in Excel that represent a specific cell, range of cells,
or constant value. They make formulas easier to understand and maintain by replacing cell
references with descriptive names. Range names can be used in formulas to refer to specific
cells or ranges, making it easier to build complex formulas and analyze data.

To use range names in formulas, you can simply type the name instead of the cell reference.
For example, instead of using "A1:B5" to refer to a range, you can create a range name
"SalesData" and use it in your formulas as "SalesData" instead of the actual cell references.
This not only makes the formula easier to read but also helps avoid errors when referencing
cells.

The parts of a function in Excel include:

1. Function name: The name of the function that performs a specific task, such as SUM,
AVERAGE, or IF.
2. Arguments: The values or cell references that are used by the function to calculate the
result. Functions can have multiple arguments, each separated by commas.
3. Syntax: The structure and order of the function elements, which must be followed for the
function to work correctly.
4. Result: The output of the function, which is displayed in the cell where the function is
entered.

2. Enter formulas with functions

To enter formulas with functions in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, follow
these steps:

1. Begin by selecting the cell where you want the result of the formula to appear.

2. Type the equals sign (=) to indicate that you are entering a formula.

3. Next, type the function you want to use. Functions in Excel are generally preceded by an
equal sign and followed by parentheses, e.g., =SUM().

4. Inside the parentheses, input the range of cells you want the function to perform its
operation on. For example, to sum the values in cells A1 to A10, you'd type =SUM(A1:A10).

5. You can also include other arguments within the parentheses, such as constants or
additional cell references, depending on the function being used. For instance,
=AVERAGE(B1:B5, 10) would find the average of cells B1 to B5 and the value 10.

6. Once you've entered the formula, press Enter to execute it. The result will display in the
selected cell.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

Remember to use the appropriate function for the operation you need (e.g., SUM for
addition, AVERAGE for finding the average, MAX for the maximum value, etc.) and adjust
the cell references and arguments as necessary to tailor the formula to your specific needs.
Excel offers numerous functions for a wide range of calculations, providing great versatility
and efficiency in handling data.

3. Use functions to solve mathematical problems. Use functions to solve

statistical problems

Basic statistical Function

These are some most common and useful functions. These include the COUNT function,
COUNTA function, COUNTBLANK function, COUNTIFS function. Let’s discuss one by one:

1. COUNT function

The COUNT function is used to count the number of cells containing a number. Always
remember one thing that it will only count the number.

Formula for COUNT function = COUNT(value1, [value2], …)

 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

2. COUNTA function

This function will count everything, it will count the number of the cell containing any kind of
information, including numbers, error values, empty text.

Formula for COUNTA function = COUNTA(value1, [value2], …)

3. COUNTBLANK function

COUNTBLANK function, as the term, suggest it will only count blank or empty cells.

Formula for COUNTBlANK function = COUNTBLANK(range)

 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a
There are 2 subjects that don’t have any discount.

4. COUNTIFS function

COUNTIFS function is the most used function in Excel. The function will work on one or
more than one condition in a given range and counts the cell that meets the condition.

Formula for COUNTIFS function = COUNTIFS (range1, criteria1, [range2], [criteria2], …)

The parts of a function

In order to work correctly, a function must be written a specific way, which is called the
syntax. The basic syntax for a function is an equals sign (=), the function name (SUM, for
example), and one or more arguments. Arguments contain the information you want to
calculate. The function in the example below would add the values of the cell range A1:A20.

Working with arguments

Arguments can refer to both individual cells and cell ranges and must be enclosed within
parentheses. You can include one argument or multiple arguments, depending on the syntax
required for the function.

For example, the function =AVERAGE(B1:B9) would calculate the average of the values in
the cell range B1:B9. This function contains only one argument.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

Multiple arguments must be separated by a comma. For example, the function =SUM(A1:A3,
C1:C2, E2) will add the values of all cells in the three arguments.

Using functions

There are a variety of functions. Here are some of the most common functions you'll use:

SUM: This function adds all the values of the cells in the argument.
AVERAGE: This function determines the average of the values included in the argument. It
calculates the sum of the cells and then divides that value by the number of cells in the
argument.
COUNT: This function counts the number of cells with numerical data in the argument. This
function is useful for quickly counting items in a cell range.
MAX: This function determines the highest cell value included in the argument.
MIN: This function determines the lowest cell value included in the argument.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

To use a function:
In our example below, we'll use a basic function to calculate the average price per unit for a
list of recently ordered items using the AVERAGE function.

1. Select the cell that will contain the function. In our example, we'll select cell C11.

2. Type the equals sign (=) and enter the desired function name. In our example, we'll
type =AVERAGE.

3. Enter the cell range for the argument inside parentheses. In our example, we'll type
(C3:C10). This formula will add the values of cells C3:C10 and then divide that value
by the total number of cells in the range to determine the average.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

The function will be calculated, and the result will appear in the cell. In our example, the
average price per unit of items ordered was $15.93

4. Use functions to solve financial problems

1: XNPV

Formula: =XNPV(discount_rate, cash_flows, dates)

For finance professionals, XNPV is the most useful formula in Excel. For a valuation analysis to
determine a company's value, a series of cash flows must be calculated to determine its Net Present
Value (NPV).

By taking specific dates for cash flows into account, XNPV is much more useful and precise than
regular NPV in Excel.

2: XIRR

Formula: =XIRR(cash flows, dates)

A similar function to XNPV is XIRR, which calculates the internal rate of return for a series of cash
flows based on specific dates.

Since the time periods between cash flows are unlikely to all be the same, XIRR should always be
used over regular IRR.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

3: MIRR

Formula: =MIRR(cash flows, cost of borrowing, reinvestment rate)

One of the most important things for finance professionals is to understand the internal rate of return
in its many variations. In this formula, M stands for Modified, and it is especially useful when investing
the cash from one investment in another.

Suppose a private business invested its cash flow in government bonds.

A high-returning business with an 18% IRR that reinvests cash in a bond at only 8% will result in a
combined IRR that is considerably lower than 18%.

4: PMT

Formula: =PMT(rate, number of periods, present value)

Finance professionals who work with real estate financial models often use this function in Excel. It is
easiest to think of the formula as a mortgage payment calculator.

You can calculate how much the payments will be given a number of time periods (years, months,
etc.) and the total loan value (e.g., mortgage).

In this way, both principal and interest are included in the total payment.

5: IPMT

Formula: = IPMT(rate, current period #, total # of periods, present value)

A fixed debt payment includes an interest component calculated by IPMT. In conjunction with the PMT
function above, this Excel function works very well. Taking the difference between PMT and IMPT in
each period, we can arrive at the principal payments for each period by separating out interest
payments.

6: EFFECT

Formula: =EFFECT(interest rate, # of periods per year)

Non-annual compounding interest rates are calculated in Excel using this finance function. In
particular, finance professionals involved in lending and borrowing should know about this feature in
Excel.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a
In the example above, a compounded monthly interest rate of 20.0% is actually a 21.94% annual
interest rate.

7: DB

Formula: =DB(cost, salvage value, life/# of periods, current period)

Accounting and finance professionals will find this Excel function very useful. This formula allows
Excel to calculate your depreciation expense for each period without building a large Declining
Balance (DB) schedule.

8: RATE

Formula: =RATE(# of periods, coupon payment per period, price of the bond, the face value of
the bond, type)

A security's Yield to Maturity can be calculated using the RATE function. If you want to calculate the
average annual rate of return on bonds, you can use this calculator.

5. Use logical functions to make decisions with worksheet data. Use functions to
Insert times and dates in a worksheet

Using the AND function in Excel

The AND function is the most popular member of the logic functions family. It comes in
handy when you have to test several conditions and make sure that all of them are met.
Technically, the AND function tests the conditions you specify and returns TRUE if all of the
conditions evaluate to TRUE, FALSE otherwise.
The syntax for the Excel AND function is as follows:

AND(logical1, [logical2], …)

Where logical is the condition you want to test that can evaluate to either TRUE or FALSE.
The first condition (logical1) is required, subsequent conditions are optional.

And now, let's look at some formula examples that demonstrate how to use the AND
functions in Excel formulas.

Formula Description

=AND(A2="Bananas", B2>C2) Returns TRUE if A2 contains "Bananas"

and B2 is greater than C2, FALSE
otherwise.

=AND(B2>20, B2=C2) Returns TRUE if B2 is greater than 20 and

B2 is equal to C2, FALSE otherwise.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a
=AND(A2="Bananas", B2>=30, B2>C2) Returns TRUE if A2 contains "Bananas", B2
is greater than or equal to 30 and B2 is
greater than C2, FALSE otherwise.

Excel AND function - common uses

By itself, the Excel AND function is not very exciting and has narrow usefulness. But in
combination with other Excel functions, AND can significantly extend the capabilities of your
worksheets.

One of the most common uses of the Excel AND function is found in the logical_test
argument of the IF function to test several conditions instead of just one. For example, you
can nest any of the AND functions above inside the IF function and get a result similar to
this:

=IF(AND(A2="Bananas", B2>C2), "Good", "Bad")

 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

6. Use text functions to format and display cell contents.

The TEXT function lets you change the way a number appears by applying formatting to it
with format codes. It's useful in situations where you want to display numbers in a more
readable format, or you want to combine numbers with text or symbols.

In its simplest form, the TEXT function says:

=TEXT(Value you want to format, "Format code you want to apply")

Here are some popular examples, which you can copy directly into Excel to experiment with
on your own. Notice the format codes within quotation marks.

Formula Description

=TEXT(1234.567,"$#,##0.00") Currency with a thousands separator and 2

decimals, like $1,234.57. Note that Excel
rounds the value to 2 decimal places.

=TEXT(TODAY(),"MM/DD/YY") Today’s date in MM/DD/YY format, like

03/14/12

=TEXT(TODAY(),"DDDD") Today’s day of the week, like Monday

=TEXT(NOW(),"H:MM AM/PM") Today’s day of the week, like Monday

=TEXT(0.285,"0.0%") Percentage, like 28.5%

=TEXT(4.34 ,"# ?/?") Fraction, like 4 1/3

=TRIM(TEXT(0.34,"# ?/?")) Fraction, like 1/3. Note this uses the TRIM
function to remove the leading space with a
decimal value

=TEXT(12200000,"0.00E+00") Scientific notation, like 1.22E+07

=TEXT(1234567898,"[<=9999999]###-#### Special (Phone number), like (123)

;(###) ###-####") 456-7898

=TEXT(1234,"0000000") Add leading zeros (0), like 0001234

=TEXT(123456,"##0° 00' 00''") Custom - Latitude/Longitude

Note: Although you can use the TEXT function to change formatting, it’s not the only way.
You can change the format without a formula by pressing CTRL+1 (or +1 on the Mac), then
pick the format you want from the Format Cells > Number dialog box.
 Living into the IT Era
Ganaba, Willy Boy E.
BSChE 3a

The TEXT function is rarely used by itself, and is most often used in conjunction with
something else. Let’s say you want to combine text and a number value, like “Report Printed
on: 03/14/12”, or “Weekly Revenue: $66,348.72”. You could type that into Excel manually,
but that defeats the purpose of having Excel do it for you. Unfortunately, when you combine
text and formatted numbers, like dates, times, currency, etc., Excel doesn’t know how you
want to display them, so it drops the number formatting. This is where the TEXT function is
invaluable, because it allows you to force Excel to format the values the way you want by
using a format code, like "MM/DD/YY" for date format.

In the following example, you’ll see what happens if you try to join text and a number without
using the TEXT function. In this case, we’re using the ampersand (&) to concatenate a text
string, a space (" "), and a value with =A2&" "&B2.

As you can see, Excel removed the formatting from the date in cell B2. In the next example,
you'll see how the TEXT function lets you apply the format you want.

Our updated formula is:

Cell C2:=A2&" "&TEXT(B2,"mm/dd/yy") - Date format