For Dummies 978-0-470-56816-3 Scheda Tecnica

Chapter 1Tapping into Formula and Function FundamentalsIn This Chapter▶ Getting the skinny on workbooks and worksheets▶ Understanding the parts of a w

16Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Say you have a list of clients on a worksheet. What’s easier — thinking of exactly which cells are occupied, or

17 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-10: Using the Name Box to find the named area. Tables work in much the same mann

18Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Excel lets you format your data in just the way you need. Formatting options are on the Home Ribbon, in the Num

19 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function FundamentalsThis starts the Help system. From there you can search on a keyword or browse through the

20Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions We use the word return to refer to what displays after a formula or function does its thing. So to say the fo

21 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals 5. Click a third cell. This cell will contain the formula. 6. Type a =. 7. Click the

22Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Figure 1-15: Completing the formula. Figure 1-16: A finished formula. Understanding referencesReferences abou

23 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals 1. Enter some numbers in many cells going down one column. 2. Click in another cell whe

24Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions What happened? Excel, in its wisdom, assumed that if a formula in cell C2 ref-erences the cell B2 — one cell to

25 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-17: Getting ready to drag the for-mula down. Figure 1-18 shows what the workshee

8Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions show you how to build formulas and how to use the dozens of built-in func-tions that Excel provides. That’s wher

26Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Two types of errors can occur in formulas. In one type, Excel can calculate the formula, but the result is wron

27 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-19: Getting a message from Excel. On the other side of the fence are errors in r

28Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Using Functions in FormulasFunctions are like little utility programs that do a single thing. For example, the

29 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals 4. Click the first cell with an entered value and, while holding the mouse button, drag

30Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Function Comment=NOW()Takes no arguments.=AVERAGE(A6,A11,B7)Can take up to 255 arguments. Here, three cell refe

31 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-21: Using the Insert Function dialog box. Try it! Here’s an example of how to us

32Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Figure 1-22: Getting ready to enter some arguments to the function. 8. Click the RefEdit control to the rig

33 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentalsinstead is the address of the cell that contains the value — exactly what you want. 11. R

34Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions You do not have to use the Insert Function dialog box to enter functions into cells. It is there for convenie

35 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals=COUNTIF(B5:B25, “>” & AVERAGE(B5:B25)). The AVERAGE func-tion is evaluated first,

9 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-1: Seeing how to use basic Excel program functions. Figure 1-2: Looking at a wor

36Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Figure 1-27: Getting a result from nested func-tions. You can nest functions up to 64 levels.05_568163-ch01.

10Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions At any given moment, one worksheet is always on top. In Figure 1-2, Sheet1 is on top. Another way of saying thi

11 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Don’t delete a worksheet unless you really mean to. You cannot get it back after it is g

12Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Ribbon is set to show formula-based methods. Along the left, functions are categorized. One of the categories i

13 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals Figure 1-6: Eyeing the Watch Window. Another new feature that goes hand in hand with th

14Part I: Putting the Fun in Functions Figure 1-7: Looking at what goes into a work-sheet. In Figure 1-7, the active cell is C7. You have a couple of

15 Chapter 1: Tapping into Formula and Function Fundamentals If the Formula Bar is not visible, choose the Advanced tab; in the Display sec-tion in t