Excel Formulas & Functions For Dummies, 5th Edition

Excel Formulas & Functions For Dummies, 5th Edition

by Ken Bluttman
Released November 2018
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781119518259

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Book description

Put the power of Excel functions to work in your formulas

There are more than 400 built-in functions in Excel 2019, from AGGREGATE to Z.TEST. The question is which ones will make your work easier? How and why should you use a particular function in your formulas? Excel Formulas and Functions For Dummies offers thorough but easy-to-read coverage of powerful Excel functions.

With this book, you’ll learn to apply the power of Excel functions and formulas to make your work and other tasks easier. Compare 15-year vs. 30-year mortgage terms, choose between leasing or buying a car, compute classroom grades, create an amortization table, evaluate investment performance, calculate the real cost of credit card purchases, or forecast college expenses and savings. All of this and more is possible when you master functions and formulas in Excel. Although it covers the latest software version, Excel 2019, the techniques and functions described in this book can be used on any version of Excel. 

  • Step-by-step instruction on Excel's 150 most useful functions
  • Each function is illustrated by helpful, real-world examples
  • 85 specialized functions are described in abbreviated form
  • Includes Excel’s must-know functions

This book is a must-read for beginning to intermediate Excel users who want to find out how to use Excel’s powerful built-in functions.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. How to Use This Book
    4. Icons Used in This Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
  3. Part 1: Getting Started with Formulas and Functions
    1. Chapter 1: Tapping Into Formula and Function Fundamentals
      1. Working with Excel Fundamentals
      2. Gaining the Upper Hand on Formulas
      3. Using Functions in Formulas
    2. Chapter 2: Saving Time with Function Tools
      1. Getting Familiar with the Insert Function Dialog Box
      2. Finding the Correct Function
      3. Entering Functions Using the Insert Function Dialog Box
      4. Directly Entering Formulas and Functions
    3. Chapter 3: Saying “Array!” for Formulas and Functions
      1. Discovering Arrays
      2. Using Arrays in Formulas
      3. Working with Functions That Return Arrays
    4. Chapter 4: Fixing Formula Boo-Boos
      1. Catching Errors As You Enter Them
      2. Auditing Formulas
      3. Watching the Watch Window
      4. Evaluating and Checking Errors
      5. Making an Error Behave the Way You Want
  4. Part 2: Doing the Math
    1. Chapter 5: Calculating Loan Payments and Interest Rates
      1. Understanding How Excel Handles Money
      2. Figuring Loan Calculations
    2. Chapter 6: Appreciating What You’ll Get, Depreciating What You’ve Got
      1. Looking into the Future
      2. Depreciating the Finer Things in Life
      3. Measuring Your Internals
    3. Chapter 7: Using Basic Math Functions
      1. Adding It All Together with the SUM Function
      2. Rounding Out Your Knowledge
      3. Leaving All Decimals Behind with INT
      4. Leaving Some Decimals Behind with TRUNC
      5. Looking for a Sign
      6. Ignoring Signs
    4. Chapter 8: Advancing Your Math
      1. Using PI to Calculate Circumference and Diameter
      2. Generating and Using Random Numbers
      3. Ordering Items
      4. Combining
      5. Raising Numbers to New Heights
      6. Multiplying Multiple Numbers
      7. Using What Remains with the MOD Function
      8. Summing Things Up
      9. Getting an Angle on Trigonometry
  5. Part 3: Solving with Statistics
    1. Chapter 9: Throwing Statistics a Curve
      1. Getting Stuck in the Middle with AVERAGE, MEDIAN, and MODE
      2. Deviating from the Middle
      3. Analyzing Data with Percentiles and Bins
      4. Going for the Count
    2. Chapter 10: Using Significance Tests
      1. Testing to the T
      2. Comparing Results with an Estimate
    3. Chapter 11: Rolling the Dice on Predictions and Probability
      1. Modeling
      2. Getting It Straight: Using SLOPE and INTERCEPT to Describe Linear Data
      3. What’s Ahead: Using FORECAST, TREND, and GROWTH to Make Predictions
      4. Using NORM.DIST and POISSON.DIST to Determine Probabilities
  6. Part 4: Dancing with Data
    1. Chapter 12: Dressing Up for Date Functions
      1. Understanding How Excel Handles Dates
      2. Formatting Dates
      3. Making a Date with DATE
      4. Breaking a Date with DAY, MONTH, and YEAR
      5. Converting a Date from Text
      6. Finding Out What TODAY Is
      7. Determining the Day of the Week
      8. Working with Workdays
      9. Calculating Time Between Two Dates with the DATEDIF Function
    2. Chapter 13: Keeping Well-Timed Functions
      1. Understanding How Excel Handles Time
      2. Formatting Time
      3. Keeping TIME
      4. Converting Text to Time with TIMEVALUE
      5. Deconstructing Time with HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND
      6. Finding the Time NOW
      7. Calculating Elapsed Time Over Days
    3. Chapter 14: Using Lookup, Logical, and Reference Functions
      1. Testing on One Condition
      2. Choosing the Right Value
      3. Let’s Be Logical
      4. Finding Where the Data Is
      5. Looking It Up
    4. Chapter 15: Digging Up the Facts
      1. Getting Informed with the CELL Function
      2. Getting Information About Excel and Your Computer System
      3. Finding What IS and What IS Not
      4. Getting to Know Your Type
    5. Chapter 16: Writing Home About Text Functions
      1. Breaking Apart Text
      2. Putting Text Together with CONCATENATE
      3. Changing Text
      4. Comparing, Finding, and Measuring Text
    6. Chapter 17: Playing Records with Database Functions
      1. Putting Your Data into a Database Structure
      2. Working with Database Functions
      3. Fine-Tuning Criteria with AND and OR
      4. Adding Only What Matters with DSUM
      5. Going for the Middle with DAVERAGE
      6. Counting Only What Matters with DCOUNT
      7. Finding Highest and Lowest with DMIN and DMAX
      8. Finding Duplicate Values with DGET
      9. Being Productive with DPRODUCT
  7. Part 5: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 18: Ten Tips for Working with Formulas
      1. Master Operator Precedence
      2. Display Formulas
      3. Fix Formulas
      4. Use Absolute References
      5. Turn Calc On/Turn Calc Off
      6. Use Named Areas
      7. Use Formula Auditing
      8. Use Conditional Formatting
      9. Use Data Validation
      10. Create Your Own Functions
    2. Chapter 19: Ten Functions You Really Should Know
      1. SUM
      2. AVERAGE
      3. COUNT
      4. INT and ROUND
      5. IF
      6. NOW and TODAY
      7. HLOOKUP and VLOOKUP
      8. ISNUMBER
      9. MIN and MAX
      10. SUMIF and COUNTIF
    3. Chapter 20: Ten Really Cool Functions
      1. Work with Hexadecimal, Octal, Decimal, and Binary Numbers
      2. Convert Units of Measurement
      3. Find the Greatest Common Divisor and the Least Common Multiple
      4. Easily Generate a Random Number
      5. Convert to Roman Numerals
      6. Factor in a Factorial
      7. Determine Part of a Year with YEARFRAC
      8. Find the Data TYPE
      9. Find the LENgth of Your Text
      10. Just in CASE
  8. Index
  9. About the Author
  10. Connect with Dummies
  11. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Excel Formulas & Functions For Dummies, 5th Edition
  • Author(s): Ken Bluttman
  • Release date: November 2018
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119518259