Special Edition Using Microsoft® Office XP

Using Range Names and Labels in Formulas

Understanding the logic of a complex formula can be a challenge, even when you entered the formula yourself. This form of amnesia is especially common when you haven't opened a particular workbook in months or years.

To make it easier for you to understand a formula's purpose just by looking at it, you can enter cell references by using named ranges. This technique is especially useful with cells that contain constant values such as interest rates, loan amounts, sales tax rates, and discount formulas, because you can define a handful of input cells and then plug the contents of those cells into formulas on any worksheet within the workbook.

You can define range names explicitly, or you can enter cell references ...