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IS2022
Business Programming
with Spreadsheet
WEEK 2 EXCEL FUNCTIONS
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Basic Excel
Functions (II)

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Intended Learning Outcomes

 Understanding and applying Excel functions in business:

 Date/Time functions
 Text functions
 Financial functions
 Lookup and reference functions
 Logical functions
 Conjunction functions
 Error handling functions

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Function Basics

 An Excel function is a predefined formula that performs

a calculation
Category Description
Date & Time Provides methods for manipulating date and time values
Financial Performs financial calculations, e.g. payments, rate, present value and future value
Logical Performs logical tests and returns the value of the tests, including logical operators
for combined tests, e.g. AND, OR, and NOT
Lookup & Reference Looks up values, creates links to cells, or provides references to cells in a worksheet
Math & Trig Performs standard math and trigonometry calculations
Statistical Performs common statistical calculations, e.g. averages and standard deviations

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Date Functions

 Since dates are numeric, calculations can be

performed, such as subtraction
 Date functions are based on a serial date system, each
day is represented sequentially from a starting point
 1/1/1900 has a serial number of 1

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Common Date Functions

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DATEDIF Function

DATEDIF(Date1, Date2, Interval)

Interval / Description
Unit Value
“D” Returns the number of complete days between the dates
“M” Returns the number of complete months between the dates
“Y” Returns the number of complete years between the dates
“MD” Returns the difference between days in 2 days, ignoring months and years
“YM” Returns the difference between months in 2 days, ignoring days and years
“YD” Returns the difference between days in 2 days, ignoring years

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Time Functions

 Time is represented by the decimal portion of a number

 The decimal is based on the number of minutes in a day
(24*60=1440) → 0.1 decimal is equal to 144 minutes
 A full date and time value, e.g. 2/6/2020 6:21 PM,
appears as 43867.7620123843, i.e. 43867 days between
1/1/1900 and 2/6/2020, the time of 6:21 PM is
represented by the 0. 7620123843 portion of the number

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Common Time Functions

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Text Functions

 Manage, manipulate, and format text data, aka string

 Can change the way data is viewed
 Cut a string of text into multiple pieces
 Combine multiple pieces of text together into one string of text
 Change the appearance of data
 Cleanse text by removing unwanted characters, rearranging
data in a cell, or correcting erroneous data

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Common Text Functions

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Financial Functions

 A set of predefined functions that can be used for

calculating interest rates, payments, analyzing loans

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Calculating Payments with PMT Function

 The PMT financial function calculates the periodic payment for

a loan with a fixed interest rate and term length
 =PMT(rate,nper,pv,[fv],[type])
 PMT has 3 required arguments and up to 2 optional
arguements
 Interest rate (rate)
 Number of periods (nper)
 Present value (pv)
 Future value [fv]
 When payments are due [type]
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Lookup and Reference Functions

 Look up matching values in a table to perform

calculations or display results
 Can be used for simple matches or complex retrieval
tasks

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Creating a Lookup Table

 When searching a range, the breakpoint is the lowest

value for a category or series
 A lookup table typically lists breakpoints in one column
and return values in a second column Range Grade
0 F
60 D
70 C
80 B
90 A
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VLOOKUP Function

 The VLOOKUP function searches a lookup table for a value

and returns the result from the related column
 =VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_number,
[range_lookup])
 VLOOKUP has 3 required arguments and one optional
argument
 LOOKUP value
 Table array (range of lookup table)
 Column index of return value
 Range lookup (optional)

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Retrieve Data using MATCH Function

 Returns the position of a value in a list

 Has 3 arguments
 Lookup_value

 Lookup_array

 Match_type

 =MATCH(lookup_value,lookup_array,[match_type]
=MATCH(E13,Coupon_Num,0)

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Retrieve Data using INDEX Function

 Returns a value or the reference to a value within a range

based on X and Y coordinates
 Has 3 arguments
 Array

 Row_num

 Column_num

 =INDEX(array,row_number,[column_number])

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Applying MATCH and INDEX Functions

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Logical Functions - IF Function

 IF function has 3 arguments:

A condition that is tested to determine if it is either true or false
 The resulting value if the condition is true
 The resulting value if the condition is false
 =IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false)

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Designing the Logical Test

 The logical test is built from the logical operators

Operator Description
= Equal to
<> Not equal to
< Less than
> Greater than
<= Less than or equal to
>= Greater than or equal to

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IF Functions

=IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

IF(C5<=0, "Scratch Golfer", "Handicapped Golfer")

Logical test Value if true Value if false

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Determining Results of IF Functions

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Create a Nested IF Function

=IF(E7<I$2, F5*J$2%, IF(E5<=I$3,F5*J$3,F5*J$4))

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Create a Nested IF Function

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Integrate Conjunction Functions

 AND(logical 1, [logical 2],…)

 OR(logical 1, [logical 2],…)
 NOT(logical 1, [logical 2],…)

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Integrate Conjunction Function - AND

 AND function
 Has 2 or more logical conditions
 Returns TRUE only if all conditions are true
 Returns FALSE if any of the conditions are false
 Example: IF(AND(ACT>=30,GPA>=3.5),"Eligible","Not Eligible")
Logical Test ‘A’ Logical Test ‘B’ AND Function Result
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE TRUE FALSE
© Tania Lau – all right reserved by the author FALSE FALSE FALSE
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Integrate Conjunction Function - OR

 OR function
 Has 2 or more conditions
 Returns TRUE if any of the conditions are true
 Returns FALSE only if all conditions are false
 Example: IF(OR(ACT>=30,GPA>=3.5),"Eligible","Not Eligible")
Logical Test ‘A’ Logical Test ‘B’ OR Function Result
TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE FALSE TRUE
FALSE TRUE TRUE
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FALSE FALSE FALSE
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Integrate Conjunction Function – AND vs OR

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Integrate Conjunction Function - NOT

 NOT function
 Contains only 1 argument
 Reverses the truth value of its argument
 Example: IF(NOT(PermRes="NC"),"Non-resident","Resident")

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Common Function Error Messages

 When you make a mistake with a function that prevents Excel

from returning a viable result, Excel provides an error message.
 #NAME? – invalid name/text in formula
 #N/A – no value is available or inappropriate arguments used
 #REF! – formula refers to an invalid cell
 #VALUE! – formula contains wrong type of argument
 #DIV/0! – formula attempts to divide a number by 0 or empty cell
 #NUM! – incorrect use of number
 #NULL! – reference to intersection of 2 areas that do not intersect

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Handle Errors with IFERROR Function

 Returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an

error; otherwise, returns the result of the formula.
 Has 2 arguments
 Value

 Value_if_error

 =IFERROR(value,value_if_error)

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Summary

 Use date and text functions, e.g. TODAY, LEFT, FIND, etc.
 Explored IF, VLOOKUP and PMT functions

 Reference: Kinser, Amy, Microsoft Excel 2013

Comprehensive, 2014, Pearson Education Inc, New
Jersey

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