Top 30 Excel Formulas and Functions You Should KN
Top 30 Excel Formulas and Functions You Should KN
Articles Ebooks Free Practice Tests On-demand Webinars Tutorials Live Webinars
Home Resources Data Science & Business Analytics Top 30 Excel Formulas and Functions You Should
Know
By Shruti M
Table of Contents
Conclusion
View More
Microsoft Excel is the go-to tool for working with data. There are probably a handful of people who
haven’t used Excel, given its immense popularity. Excel is a widely used software application in
industries today, built to generate reports and business insights. Excel supports several in-built
applications that make it easier to use.
One such feature that allows Excel to stand out is - Excel sheet formulas. Here, we will look into the
top 25 Excel formulas that one must know while working on Excel. The topics that we will be
covering in this article are as follows:
In Microsoft Excel, a formula is an expression that operates on values in a range of cells. These
formulas return a result, even when it is an error. Excel formulas enable you to perform calculations
such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In addition to these, you can ]nd out
averages and calculate percentages in excel for a range of cells, manipulate date and time values,
and do a lot more.
EXPLORE NOW
Choose a cell.
Enter the address of a cell in the selected cell or select a cell from the list.
Press Enter.
There is another term that is very familiar to Excel formulas, and that is "function". The two words,
"formulas" and "functions" are sometimes interchangeable. They are closely related, but yet different.
A formula begins with an equal sign. Meanwhile, functions are used to perform complex calculations
that cannot be done manually. Functions in excel have names that rebect their intended use.
The example below shows how we have used the multiplication formula manually with the ‘*’
operator.
This example below shows how we have used the function - ‘PRODUCT’ to perform multiplication. As
you can see, we didn’t use the mathematical operator here.
Excel formulas and functions help you perform your tasks ehciently, and it's time-saving. Let's
proceed and learn the different types of functions available in Excel and use relevant formulas as
and when required.
EXPLORE NOW
Build your career in Data Analytics with our Data Analyst Master's Program! Cover core topics
and important concepts to help you get started the right way!
There are plenty of Excel formulas and functions depending on what kind of operation you want to
perform on the dataset. We will look into the formulas and functions on mathematical operations,
character-text functions, data and time, sumif-countif, and few lookup functions.
Let’s now look at the top 25 Excel formulas you must know. In this article, we have categorized 25
Excel formulas based on their operations. Let’s start with the ]rst Excel formula on our list.
1. SUM
The SUM() function, as the name suggests, gives the total of the selected range of cell values. It
performs the mathematical operation which is addition. Here’s an example of it below:
Sum "=SUM(C2:C4)"
As you can see above, to ]nd the total amount of sales for every unit, we had to simply type in the
function “=SUM(C2:C4)”. This automatically adds up 300, 385, and 480. The result is stored in C5.
2. AVERAGE
The AVERAGE() function focuses on calculating the average of the selected range of cell values. As
seen from the below example, to ]nd the avg of the total sales, you have to simply type in:
It automatically calculates the average, and you can store the result in your desired location.
3. COUNT
The function COUNT() counts the total number of cells in a range that contains a number. It does not
include the cell, which is blank, and the ones that hold data in any other format apart from numeric.
COUNT =COUNT(C1:C4)
As seen above, here, we are counting from C1 to C4, ideally four cells. But since the COUNT function
takes only the cells with numerical values into consideration, the answer is 3 as the cell containing
“Total Sales” is omitted here.
If you are required to count all the cells with numerical values, text, and any other data format, you
must use the function ‘COUNTA()’. However, COUNTA() does not count any blank cells.
To count the number of blank cells present in a range of cells, COUNTBLANK() is used.
4. SUBTOTAL
Moving ahead, let’s now understand how the subtotal function works. The SUBTOTAL() function
returns the subtotal in a database. Depending on what you want, you can select either average,
count, sum, min, max, min, and others. Let’s have a look at two such examples.
In the example above, we have performed the subtotal calculation on cells ranging from A2 to A4. As
you can see, the function used is
In the subtotal list “1” refers to average. Hence, the above function will give the average of A2: A4 and
the answer to it is 11, which is stored in C5. Similarly,
This selects the cell with the maximum value from A2 to A4, which is 12. Incorporating “4” in the
function provides the maximum result.
5. MODULUS
The MOD() function works on returning the remainder when a particular number is divided by a
divisor. Let’s now have a look at the examples below for better understanding.
In the ]rst example, we have divided 10 by 3. The remainder is calculated using the function
MODULUS =MOD(A2,3)
The result is stored in B2. We can also directly type “=MOD(10,3)” as it will give the same answer.
Similarly, here, we have divided 12 by 4. The remainder is 0 is, which is stored in B3.
6. POWER
The function “Power()” returns the result of a number raised to a certain power. Let’s have a look at
the examples shown below:
As you can see above, to ]nd the power of 10 stored in A2 raised to 3, we have to type:
7. CEILING
Next, we have the ceiling function. The CEILING() function rounds a number up to its nearest multiple
of signi]cance.
8. FLOOR
Contrary to the Ceiling function, the boor function rounds a number down to the nearest multiple of
signi]cance.
9. CONCATENATE
This function merges or joins several text strings into one text string. Given below are the different
ways to perform this function.
"=CONCATENATE(A27&" "&B27)"
Those were the two ways to implement the concatenation operation in Excel.
10. LEN
The function LEN() returns the total number of characters in a string. So, it will count the overall
characters, including spaces and special characters. Given below is an example of the Len function.
Let’s now move onto the next Excel function on our list of this article.
EXPLORE NOW
11. REPLACE
As the name suggests, the REPLACE() function works on replacing the part of a text string with a
different text string.
The syntax is “=REPLACE(old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)”. Here, start_num refers to the
index position you want to start replacing the characters with. Next, num_chars indicate the number
of characters you want to replace.
REPLACE =REPLACE(A15,1,1,"B")
“=REPLACE(A16,1,1, "A2")”
“=REPLACE(A17,1,2, "Sa")”
EXPLORE NOW
12. SUBSTITUTE
The SUBSTITUTE() function replaces the existing text with a new text in a text string.
Here, [instance_num] refers to the index position of the present texts more than once.
Next, we are substituting the second 2010 that occurs in the original text in cell A21 with 2016 by
typing “=SUBSTITUTE(A21,2010, 2016,2)”.
Now, we are replacing both the 2010s in the original text with 2016 by typing
“=SUBSTITUTE(A22,2010,2016)”.
That was all about the substitute function, let’s now move on to our next function.
The LEFT() function gives the number of characters from the start of a text string. Meanwhile, the
MID() function returns the characters from the middle of a text string, given a starting position and
length. Finally, the right() function returns the number of characters from the end of a text string.
In the example below, we use the function left to obtain the leftmost word on the sentence in cell
A5.
The UPPER() function converts any text string to uppercase. In contrast, the LOWER() function
converts any text string to lowercase. The PROPER() function converts any text string to proper case,
i.e., the ]rst letter in each word will be in uppercase, and all the other will be in lowercase.
Now, we have converted the text in A6 to a full lowercase one, as seen in A7.
Finally, we have converted the improper text in A6 to a clean and proper format in A7.
Fig: Proper function in Excel
Now, let us hop on to exploring some date and time functions in Excel.
15. NOW()
The NOW() function in Excel gives the current system date and time.
The result of the NOW() function will change based on your system date and time.
16. TODAY()
The function DAY() is used to return the day of the month. It will be a number between 1 to 31. 1 is
the ]rst day of the month, 31 is the last day of the month.
The MONTH() function returns the month, a number from 1 to 12, where 1 is January and 12 is
December.
The YEAR() function, as the name suggests, returns the year from a date value.
17. TIME()
The TIME() function converts hours, minutes, seconds given as numbers to an Excel serial number,
formatted with a time format.
The HOUR() function generates the hour from a time value as a number from 0 to 23. Here, 0 means
12 AM and 23 is 11 PM.
The function MINUTE(), returns the minute from a time value as a number from 0 to 59.
The SECOND() function returns the second from a time value as a number from 0 to 59.
19. DATEDIF
The DATEDIF() function provides the difference between two dates in terms of years, months, or
days.
Below is an example of a DATEDIF function where we calculate the current age of a person based on
two given dates, the date of birth and today’s date.
Now, let’s skin through a few critical advanced functions in Excel that are popularly used to analyze
data and create reports.
20. VLOOKUP
Next up in this article is the VLOOKUP() function. This stands for the vertical lookup that is
responsible for looking for a particular value in the leftmost column of a table. It then returns a value
in the same row from a column you specify.
lookup_value - This is the value that you have to look for in the ]rst column of a table.
table - This indicates the table from which the value is retrieved.
We will use the below table to learn how the VLOOKUP function works.
If you wanted to ]nd the department to which Stuart belongs, you could use the VLOOKUP function
as shown below:
Here, A11 cell has the lookup value, A2: E7 is the table array, 3 is the column index number with
information about departments, and 0 is the range lookup.
If you hit enter, it will return “Marketing”, indicating that Stuart is from the marketing department.
21. HLOOKUP
Similar to VLOOKUP, we have another function called HLOOKUP() or horizontal lookup. The function
HLOOKUP looks for a value in the top row of a table or array of bene]ts. It gives the value in the
same column from a row you specify.
table - This is the table from which you have to retrieve data.
Given the below table, let’s see how you can ]nd the city of Jenson using HLOOKUP.
Here, H23 has the lookup value, i.e., Jenson, G1:M5 is the table array, 4 is the row index number, 0 is
for an approximate match.
Our Data Analyst Master's Program will help you learn analytics tools and techniques to become
a Data Analyst expert! It's the pefect course for you to jumpstart your career. Enroll now!
22. IF Formula
The IF() function checks a given condition and returns a particular value if it is TRUE. It will return
another value if the condition is FALSE.
In the below example, we want to check if the value in cell A2 is greater than 5. If it’s greater than 5,
the function will return “Yes 4 is greater”, else it will return “No”.
‘IFERROR’ is another function that is popularly used. This function returns a value if an expression
evaluates to an error, or else it will return the value of the expression.
Suppose you want to divide 10 by 0. This is an invalid expression, as you can’t divide a number by
zero. It will result in an error.
23. INDEX-MATCH
The INDEX-MATCH function is used to return a value in a column to the left. With VLOOKUP, you're
stuck returning an appraisal from a column to the right. Another reason to use index-match instead
of VLOOKUP is that VLOOKUP needs more processing power from Excel. This is because it needs to
evaluate the entire table array which you've selected. With INDEX-MATCH, Excel only has to consider
the lookup column and the return column.
Using the below table, let’s see how you can ]nd the city where Jenson resides.
24. COUNTIF
The function COUNTIF() is used to count the total number of cells within a range that meet the given
condition.
Below is a coronavirus sample dataset with information regarding the coronavirus cases and deaths
in each country and region.
The COUNTIFS function counts the number of cells speci]ed by a given set of conditions.
If you want to count the number of days in which the cases in India have been greater than 100. Here
is how you can use the COUNTIFS function.
25. SUMIF
The SUMIF() function adds the cells speci]ed by a given condition or criteria.
Below is the coronavirus dataset using which we will ]nd the total number of cases in India till 3rd
Jun 2020. (Our dataset has information from 31st Dec 2020 to 3rd Jun 2020).
The SUMIFS() function adds the cells speci]ed by a given set of conditions or criteria.
Let’s ]nd the total cases in France on those days when the deaths have been less than 100.
EXPLORE NOW
Goal Seek is a function in-built in Advanced Excel Functions that allows you to get the desired output
by changing the assumptions. The process is dependent on the trial and error method to achieve the
desired result.
Example
In this example, we aim to ]nd what will be the rate of interest if the person wants to pay
PMT function is used when you want to calculate the monthly payment you need to pay to settle the
loan amount.
Let’s go through this problem in steps to see how we can calculate the interest rate that will settle a
loan of $400,000 by $5,000 a month payment.
EXPLORE NOW
PMT formula should now be entered in the cell that is the Payment cell adjacent. Currently, there
is no value in the rate of interest cell, Excel gives us the payment of $3,333.33 because it assumes
the rate of interest to be 0%. Ignore it.
Set the monthly payment to -5,000. The deduction in amount signi]es the negative value.
Click OK. You will see the goal seek function automatically gives the interest rate that is required
to pay the loan amount.
EXPLORE NOW
What-If Analysis is the method of changing the values to try out different scenarios for formulas in
Advanced excel.
Several different sets of values can be used in one or multiple of these Advanced excel formulas to
explore the different results.
A solver is ideal for what-if analysis. It is an add-in program in Microsoft Excel and is helpful on many
levels. The feature can be used to identify an optimal value for a formula in the cell known as the
objective cell. Some constraints or limits are however applicable on other formula cell values on a
worksheet.
Solver works with decision variables which are a group of cells used in computing the formulas in
the objective and constraint cells. The solver adjusts the value of decision variable cells to work on
the limits on constraint cells. This process aids in determining the desired result for the objective
cell.
EXPLORE NOW
In the Data tab, in the Analyze group, you can see the Solver option is added.
EXPLORE NOW
In this example, we will try to ]nd the solution for a simple optimization problem.
Problem: Suppose you are the business owner and you want your income to be $8000.
Goal: Calculate the units to be sold and price per unit to achieve the target.
On the Data tab, in the Analysis group, click the Solver button.
In the set objective, select the income cell and set its value to $8000.
To Change the variable cell, select the C5, C6, and C10 cells.
Click Solve.
EXPLORE NOW
28. If-Else
IF function is used to test the condition and return a value if the condition is indeed true and a
predetermined different value if it turns out to be false.
29. If-Error
The Excel IFERROR function returns an alternative result when a formula generates an error and an
expected result when no error is detected.
For example, Excel returns a divide by zero error when a formula tries to divide a number by 0.
By using the IFERROR function, you can add a message if the formula evaluates to an error.
REGISTER NOW!
This is an Advanced Excel function. MATCH function is designed to return the position of a value in a
speci]ed range, while the INDEX function returns a speci]c value present in a uni-dimensional range.
The MATCH function returns the position of the ID you are looking for. The INDEX function will return
the value of the salary corresponding to the position.
The OFFSET function returns a reference to a range of cells that is a speci]ed number of rows and
columns from a cell or range of cells.
Example:
EXPLORE NOW
In this example we have a monthly sales data of two years. The goal is to ]nd the sum of sales for a
speci]c month.
The OFFSET function returns a 1x2 range, 8 rows below cell A2, and 1 column right of cell A2. The
SUM function then calculates the sum of this range.
EXPLORE NOW
Looking to build a career in the exciting ]eld of data analytics? Our Data Analytics courses are
designed to provide you with the skills and knowledge you need to excel in this rapidly growing
industry. Our expert instructors will guide you through hands-on projects, real-world scenarios, and
case studies, giving you the practical experience you need to succeed. With our courses, you'll learn
to analyze data, create insightful reports, and make data-driven decisions that can help drive
business success.
Cost $$ $$$$
Conclusion
Excel is a really powerful spreadsheet application for data analysis and reporting. After reading this
article, you would have learned the important Excel formulas and functions that will help you perform
your tasks better and faster. We looked at numeric, text, data-time, and advanced Excel formulas and
functions. Needless to say, Excel knowledge goes a long way in shaping many careers.
Looking to advance your career in Data Science or Business Analytics? Simplilearn's Caltech Post
Graduate Program in Data Science and Business Analyst can help you achieve your goals! These
comprehensive programs are designed to provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to excel
in the ]eld. Led by industry experts, the courses offer hands-on training, real-world projects, and
personalized mentorship. Plus, upon completion, you'll receive a prestigious certi]cation from one of
the world's top universities. Don't wait, enroll now and take your career to the next level!
Do you have any questions related to this article on Excel Formulas? If yes, then please let us know in
the comments section of the article. Our team of experts will help you solve your queries right away.
To kick-start your fruitful career in Excel, please click on the following link: Business Analytics with
Excel.
FAQs
Basic formulas in Excel include arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division—for example, SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, and PRODUCT.
MS Excel formulas and functions are expressions used to perform calculations or manipulate data in
Excel. Formulas start with an equal sign (=) and can contain functions, mathematical operations, cell
references, and constants.
To write a formula in Excel, start with an equal sign (=), followed by the formula expression. For
example, to add two numbers in cells A1 and B1, write "=A1+B1" in another cell.
Entering data.
Formatting cells.
VLOOKUP is a function in Excel used to search for a value in the ]rst column of a table range and
return a related value from a speci]ed column. It's commonly used for data lookup and retrieval.
An Excel formula is a mathematical expression that works with values in a speci]c range of cells.
These formulas yield a result, even if it's an error. They empower you to carry out addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division calculations within Excel.
3. COUNT: The COUNT formula calculates the quantity of cells that hold numeric values within a
designated range of cells.
4. IF: The IF formula assesses a condition and provides a speci]c output if the condition is true, or
an alternative output if the condition is false.
5. VLOOKUP: The VLOOKUP formula searches for a value in a table and returns the corresponding
value from another column in the table.
Shruti M
Shruti is an engineer and a technophile. She works on several trending technologies. Her hobbies
include reading, dancing and learning new languages. Currently, she is learning the Japanese lang…
View More
Recommended Programs
Explore Category
Data Analyst Course in Ahmedabad Data Analyst Course in Bangalore Data Analyst Course
in Chennai Data Analyst Course in Kochi, Kerala Data Analyst Course in Delhi Data
Analyst Course in Gurgaon Data Analyst Course in Hyderabad Data Analyst Course in
Jaipur Data Analyst Certi]cation Training Course in Jodhpur Data Analyst Certi]cation
Training Course in Kolhapur Data Analyst Course in Kolkata Data Analyst Course in
Lucknow Data Analyst Certi]cation Training Course in Mangalore Data Analyst Course in
Mumbai Data Analyst Course in Noida Data Analyst Course in Pune Data Analyst
NEXT ARTICLE
By Shruti M
Recommended Resources
Disclaimer
PMP, PMI, PMBOK, CAPM, PgMP, PfMP, ACP, PBA, RMP, SP, and OPM3 are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.