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Excel® 2007 Bible
book

Excel® 2007 Bible

by John Walkenbach
January 2007
Beginner to intermediate
912 pages
21h 53m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Excel® 2007 Bible

Chapter 11. Introducing Formulas and Functions

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Formulas are what make a spreadsheet program so useful. If it weren’t for formulas, a spreadsheet would simply be a glorified word-processing document that has great support for tabular information. You use formulas in your Excel worksheets to calculate results from the data stored in the worksheet. When data changes, those formulas calculate updated results with no extra effort on your part. This chapter introduces formulas and functions and helps you get up to speed with this important element.

Understanding Formula Basics

A formula is entered into a cell. It performs a calculation of some type and returns a result, which is displayed in the cell. Formulas use a variety of operators and worksheet functions to work with values and text. The values and text used in formulas can be located in other cells, which makes changing data easy and gives worksheets their dynamic nature. For example, you can see multiple scenarios quickly by changing the data in a worksheet and letting your formulas do the work.

A formula can consist of any of these elements:

  • Mathematical operators, such as + (for addition) and * (for multiplication)

  • Cell references (including named cells and ranges) ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470044032Purchase book