Business Solutions Formulas and Functions with Microsoft® Office Excel 2007

Chapter 2. Using Range Names

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Defining a Range Name 38

• Working with Range Names 45

Although ranges enable you to work efficiently with large groups of cells, there are some disadvantages to using range coordinates:

• You cannot work with more than one set of range coordinates at a time. Each time you want to use a range, you have to redefine its coordinates.

• Range notation is not intuitive. To know what a formula such as =SUM(E6:E10) is adding, you have to look at the range itself.

• A slight mistake in defining the range coordinates can lead to disastrous results, especially when you’re erasing a range.

You can overcome these problems by using range names, which are labels applied to a single cell or to a range of cells. With a name defined, ...