Excel Formulas & Functions: Learn with Basic EXAMPLES

[soybean]

Numeric Functions​

As the name suggests, these functions operate on numeric data. The following table shows some of the common numeric functions.

S/N	FUNCTION	CATEGORY	DESCRIPTION	USAGE
1	ISNUMBER	Information	Returns True if the supplied value is numeric and False if it is not numeric	=ISNUMBER(A3)
2	RAND	Math & Trig	Generates a random number between 0 and 1	=RAND()
3	ROUND	Math & Trig	Rounds off a decimal value to the specified number of decimal points	=ROUND(3.14455,2)
4	MEDIAN	Statistical	Returns the number in the middle of the set of given numbers	=MEDIAN(3,4,5,2,5)
5	PI	Math & Trig	Returns the value of Math Function PI(π)	=PI()
6	POWER	Math & Trig	Returns the result of a number raised to a power. POWER( number, power )	=POWER(2,4)
7	MOD	Math & Trig	Returns the Remainder when you divide two numbers	=MOD(10,3)
8	ROMAN	Math & Trig	Converts a number to roman numerals	=ROMAN(1984)

 

[soybean]

String functions​

These basic excel functions are used to manipulate text data. The following table shows some of the common string functions.

S/N	FUNCTION	CATEGORY	DESCRIPTION	USAGE	COMMENT
1	LEFT	Text	Returns a number of specified characters from the start (left-hand side) of a string	=LEFT(“GURU99”,4)	Left 4 Characters of “GURU99”
2	RIGHT	Text	Returns a number of specified characters from the end (right-hand side) of a string	=RIGHT(“GURU99”,2)	Right 2 Characters of “GURU99”
3	MID	Text	Retrieves a number of characters from the middle of a string from a specified start position and length. =MID (text, start_num, num_chars)	=MID(“GURU99”,2,3)	Retrieving Characters 2 to 5
4	ISTEXT	Information	Returns True if the supplied parameter is Text	=ISTEXT(value)	value – The value to check.
5	FIND	Text	Returns the starting position of a text string within another text string. This function is case-sensitive. =FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])	=FIND(“oo”,”Roofing”,1)	Find oo in “Roofing”, Result is 2
6	REPLACE	Text	Replaces part of a string with another specified string. =REPLACE (old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)

 

[soybean]

Date Time Functions​

These functions are used to manipulate date values. The following table shows some of the common date functions

S/N	FUNCTION	CATEGORY	DESCRIPTION	USAGE
1	DATE	Date & Time	Returns the number that represents the date in excel code	=DATE(2015,2,4)
2	DAYS	Date & Time	Find the number of days between two dates	=DAYS(D6,C6)
3	MONTH	Date & Time	Returns the month from a date value	=MONTH(“4/2/2015”)
4	MINUTE	Date & Time	Returns the minutes from a time value	=MINUTE(“12:31”)
5	YEAR	Date & Time	Returns the year from a date value	=YEAR(“04/02/2015”)

 

[soybean]

VLOOKUP function​

The VLOOKUP function is used to perform a vertical look up in the left most column and return a value in the same row from a column that you specify. Let’s explain this in a layman’s language. The home supplies budget has a serial number column that uniquely identifies each item in the budget. Suppose you have the item serial number, and you would like to know the item description, you can use the VLOOKUP function. Here is how the VLOOKUP function would work.

=VLOOKUP (C12, A4:B8, 2, FALSE)

 

[soybean]

HERE,

• "=VLOOKUP" calls the vertical lookup function
• "C12" specifies the value to be looked up in the left most column
• "A4:B8" specifies the table array with the data
• "2" specifies the column number with the row value to be returned by the VLOOKUP function
• "FALSE," tells the VLOOKUP function that we are looking for an exact match of the supplied look up value

The animated image below shows this in action

Download the above Excel Code

 

[soybean]

Summary​

Excel allows you to manipulate the data using formulas and/or functions. Functions are generally more productive compared to writing formulas. Functions are also more accurate compared to formulas because the margin of making mistakes is very minimum.

 

[soybean]

Here is a list of important Excel Formula and Function​

• SUM function = =SUM(E4:E8)
• MIN function = =MIN(E4:E8)
• MAX function = =MAX(E4:E8)
• AVERAGE function = =AVERAGE(E4:E8)
• COUNT function = =COUNT(E4:E8)
• DAYS function = =DAYS(D4,C4)
• VLOOKUP function = =VLOOKUP (C12, A4:B8, 2, FALSE)
• DATE function = =DATE(2020,2,4)