Chapter at a Glance

Formulas are equations that, in Microsoft Excel, calculate the content of a cell based on one or more criteria. Formulas in Excel can be made up of references to other cells or to ranges of cells, values that you specify or calculate, mathematical operators, and functions. Entire books have been written about Excel formulas, and this book isn’t the place to get too deeply into that subject, but we can’t let you go without at least a peek into this fascinating subject.

An Excel worksheet without a calculation is merely electronic accounting paper. Most worksheets contain at least simple calculations, such as one that adds the values of two cells together. Other Excel worksheets contain mathematic or date-driven formulas so daunting that it might seem as though only a computer scientist or mathematician could understand them. Although it is helpful to have some knowledge of the types of function-driven operations you are performing, Excel greatly simplifies the process of creating formulas by providing specific guidelines as you create any formula.

In this chapter, you’ll learn about formulas and the functions you can use to work with alphanumeric data. You’ll learn how to create simple formulas and how to include data from the same worksheet, another sheet in the workbook, or an external workbook, in a calculation.

Practice Makes Perfect!

The practice file you will use to complete the exercises in this chapter is in the CreateFormulas practice file folder. See "Using the Companion Content" at the beginning of this book for information about installing and locating the practice files.