Essential Functions

Worksheet functions are pre-programmed formulas that have been built into Excel for you to use.
You’ve probably already used a couple of them like SUM and maybe AVERAGE to perform
calculations within a worksheet (and through Quick Totals, which has just been covered). There
are a few hundred of these functions available to you, covering a broad spectrum of categories
from mathematics, statistics, dates/times, logical and text, right through to finance, but there are
probably only a dozen or so that you will use regularly and should have a thorough understanding
of. These are the ones you’ll be exposed to on a regular basis – knowing them and how they’re
used will help you build effective and useful workbooks.

In this session you will:

 gain an understanding of some of the key functions you may find useful
 learn how to create an IF function to display text
 learn how to create an IF function to calculate values

Key Worksheet Functions

To make working with spreadsheets even easier, Excel provides you with a range of preset
formulas to make calculations quicker and easier to perform. These pre-set formulas are called
functions and there are hundreds of functions for a range of categories, including finance,
engineering, and logic.

There are a couple of ways that Excel will help you create functions:
 The Insert Function feature, that provides a dialog box to enable you to ensure the correct
references go in the correct areas of the function.
 When you start to type a function, you see a prompt that helps you get the correct syntax,
etc.

You will use both options in these notes, but either option will work for any of the functions – just
choose what’s best for you.

Here is a list of some of the more commonly used functions:

Function Description
=IF(condition,true,false) This is the most important function to know because it
provides decision-making capability within the worksheet.
The three arguments are mandatory. The first is a
condition that must be testable (e.g. B2>400, C5=C6,
etc). The second is what the function will do if the
condition is true, while the third is what the function will
return if the condition is false. The true and false parts can
be values, text, a calculation or another function.
=VLOOKUP(value,table,in This function allows you to look up values in a table and
dex) return the one that matches. To do this you need
something to look up (the value), a table to look up (table)
and the column within the table that contains the value
(index).
 =COUNT(range) These functions count the number of non-empty cells in a
=COUNTA(range) specified range. The COUNT function counts only the
cells with numbers, while COUNTA counts cells with
=COUNTIF(range,criteria)
numbers and text. COUNTIF counts everything within the
range that matches the criteria (e.g. “Merit” or >50)
=ROUND(value,digits) These functions round a value up or down. ROUNDUP
=ROUNDUP(value,digits) and ROUNDDOWN specifically round up and down
respectively, while ROUND will round the value either
=ROUNDDOWN(value,dig
way, depending on what is closer. The functions require a
its)
value to work on (value) and the number of digits to be
rounded to.
=INT(value) These functions allow you to dissect values in the
=MOD(value,divisor) worksheet, and to manipulate them and work them over
until they do exactly what you need. INT returns just the
=ABS(value)
integer part (e.g. show 2.75 as 2), MOD just shows the
remainder after the value is divided by the divisor (e.g.
would show MOD(50,7) as 1 because 50 divided by 7 is
7, remainder 1) and ABS will convert any negative
numbers to positive (e.g. ABS(25-100) would give the
value 75, not -75.
=NOW() In Excel dates and times are simply numbers running
=TODAY() sequentially from January 1, 1900. Because they are
numbers they can be used in all sorts of calculations. The
=DATE(year,month,day)
NOW function displays the current date and time, while
TODAY displays the current date. The DATE function is
used to convert values into a date number.
=PMT(rate,period,amount) PMT calculates the regular payment required on a loan
(amount), over a specified timeframe (period), and at a
given interest rate (rate).

Creating Functions with the Insert Function Facility

Creating an IF Function (with text)
The IF function can be used to display different information depending on the outcome of a
conditional test. The resulting text will appear in the cell where the formula containing the IF
function resides. In this example, the IF function is used to indicate whether adjacent sales figures
meet or exceed a specified target. This makes identifying successful sales people far easier.

Try this yourself:

 Open the file Essential Functions1 and select cell D7.
 Click on the button (on the Formula Bar):
 You should see the Insert Function window (note: yours will probably display a different
list of functions):

 If IF is listed, select it, if not, change Most Recently Used to Logical:

 Select IF (if not already selected) and click on OK to see the Function Arguments dialog
box:

 With the insertion point flashing in the Logical_test area, select cell (or type in) C7 (you
should see the word TRUE appear to the right (this would be enough if we just wanted to
check there’s a number in the cell, but we want to compare it with cell E2):

 To finish the argument, type >, select cell E2 and press the F4 key to make it absolute:
  Click next to Value_if_true and type Exceeded Target (notice that Excel puts speech
marks around the text for you).
 Click next to Value_if_false and type Below Target:

 Click on OK to see the words Exceeded Target appear in cell D7. Copy the function down
to cell D15 to who has exceeded and who is below. Save your changes.
Creating Functions by Typing them in
Creating an IF Function (2)
 Continue using the Essential Functions1 file or reopen it.
 Select cell E7 and type =IF(

 For the logical test, we’ll use the same as before – type in (click on the references to select
them if you wish) C7>$E$2
 Type in a comma to move to the next part of the function:

 Type in the calculation (C7-$E$2)*$E$3

 Type in a comma to move to the last part and type in a 0

  Type in a closing bracket (Shift+0) and press Enter to write in the function (if you don’t type
in the closing bracket, Excel might show a message before adding it for you). Copy the
function down to E15.

To summarise:
Use the IF function to create decision making:
=IF(test, value_if_true, value_if_false)
This function performs a test, then if the result is true, uses the entry in the position true. If the
result is not true, the entry for false is used.
Handy to Know…
 If you only want text to appear if the result is true, you can enter "" (two double quotes) in the
position for false. For example, =IF(C7>=$E$2, "Exceeded Target","") will create an empty
cell if the target is not met.
 The true_value and false_value in an IF function can be mixed with one text and the other a
numeric.
 If you require more than 2 options, this can be achieved by nesting IF functions – this is covered
at a more advanced level.