Exploring Microsoft

Office Excel 2007

Chapter 2:
Formulas and Functions
Robert Grauer, Keith Mulbery, Judy Scheeren

Committed to Shaping the Next Generation of IT Experts.

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Copyright
2010 Pearson
Inc. Publishing
Prentice Hall
Copyright
2008Education,
Prentice-Hall.
All rightsasreserved.

Objectives

Create and copy formulas

Use relative and absolute cell addresses
Use AutoSum
Insert basic statistical functions
Use date functions

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Objectives (continued)

Use the IF function

Use the VLOOKUP function
Use the PMT function
Use the FV function

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Formula Basics

Formulas are used to perform mathematical

operations and arrive at a calculated result

Must begin with an equals (=) sign
Contain mathematical operators
Used to automate calculations that were once
done manually

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Creating a Formula

Rather than typing a cell address, use an

alternative method that involves minimal
typing
Pointing uses the mouse or arrow keys to
select the cell directly when creating a
formula

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Copy Formulas with Fill Handle

Use the fill handle, a small black square in

the bottom right corner of a selected cell, to
copy formulas
Provides a clear-cut alternative method for
copying the contents of a cell
Can be used to duplicate formulas

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Relative vs. Absolute Addressing

Relative cell references change relative to the

direction in which the formula is copied

Absolute cell references are exact; they do not
change when a formula is copied

Indicated by dollar ($) signs in front of the column letter and

row number
Most often used when the value need not change, such as
a sales tax percentage.

Use the F4 key to toggle between relative and

absolute cell referencing

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Functions

A predefined formula that can be selected

from a list
Already has the formula information; just
requires cell references
Do not replace all formulas
Take values, perform operations, and return
results

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Functions (continued)

SUM is the most commonly used function

Syntax refers to the grammatical structure of a

formula

represented by a sigma ()
Adds values within a specified range

Must adhere to stated structure of formula

Arguments are values used as input and returned

as output
Function Wizard automates entering the function
formulas
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Using AutoSum ()

Automates the SUM function

Click the cell where you want the result
Click AutoSum button
Select the range of cells you want to sum
Press Enter to complete
An example of AutoSum,
=Sum(C4:C10) represents sum of all the
cells in the cell range C4 to C10

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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Basic Statistical Functions

Perform a variety of calculations to aide in

decision making process

AVERAGE calculates the average of a range of

numbers
MIN calculates the minimum value in a range
MAX calculates the maximum value in a range
COUNT counts the number of values within a
range
MEDIAN finds the midpoint value in a range

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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Date Functions

Efficiently handle time-consuming procedures

Help analyze data related to the passing of
time
TODAY function places the current date in
the selected cell =TODAY()

Updates when file is opened again

NOW function displays current date and time,

side by side
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Logical and Lookup Functions

Logical functions help in decision making

Lookup functions are very useful for looking up data
entered in a specific range of cells

Example: Well suited well for tax tables

Searches for a value based on a cell reference
Two types: VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP

VLOOKUP arranges data vertically

HLOOKUP arranges data horizontally

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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IF Function

Used to determine whether a condition has

been met
Has three arguments:

=IF(condition,value_if_true,value_if_false)

a condition tested to determine if it is true or false

the resulting value if the condition is true
the resulting value if the condition is false

When the condition is met, the formula

performs one task; when it is not met, the
formula performs another task
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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VLOOKUP

Allows for lookup within a vertical table of

information
Well suited for large tables of data, such as tax
tables
Has three required arguments and one optional
argument:

VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range
_lookup)

a lookup value stored in a cell

a range of cells containing a lookup table
the number of the column within the lookup table that contains
the value to return
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VLOOKUP (continued)

The lookup value value to look up in a

reference table
The lookup table a range of cells containing
the reference table

A breakpoint is the lowest numeric value for a

category or series

The column index number the column

number in the lookup table that contains
return values
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Financial Functions

Used for decisions involving payments,

investments, interest rates, etc.
Allows you to consider several alternatives

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PMT Function

Used to calculate loan payments

Has three arguments:

PMT(rate,nper,pv,fv,type)

the interest rate per period

the number of periods
the amount of the loan

Computes the associated payment on a loan

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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FV Function

Used to determine the future value of an

amount, such as an investment
Has three arguments:

FV(rate,nper,pmt,pv,type)

The interest rate (also called the rate of return)

The number of periods (how long you will pay into the
investment)
The periodic investment (how much you will invest per
year)

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Questions?

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

Publishing as Prentice Hall
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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