Excel Workbook For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 8

Creating Date and Time Formulas

IN THIS CHAPTER

Building date and time formulas

Using the Date functions

Using the Time functions

Formulas that perform calculations between dates and between times are quite common in spreadsheets. The exercises in this chapter give you a chance to build formulas that calculate the difference between starting and ending dates and times as well as to use Excel Date and Time functions to perform a variety of tasks, including returning the current date and time in a spreadsheet, converting text entries to valid date and time numbers, and more.

Constructing Date and Time Formulas

You already have some experience entering dates and times in a worksheet and then changing how they appear by assigning different date and time number formats. Remember that all you need to do when you enter a date or time number in a worksheet is to follow one of these date or time number formats when making the entry.

The only thing the least little bit baffling about date and time entries in a worksheet is the way that Excel stores the date and time numbers. On the surface you see the date or time using the format you used, but behind the scenes lies a serial number. ...