Understanding Microsoft Excel Formulas & Functions

Hi buddy, welcome to our first discussion on Microsoft Excel Formulas Tutorial, in this article you will learn some basic Excel Formulas and their functions.

Introduction To Microsoft Excel

The distinguishing feature of a spreadsheet program such as Excel is that it allows you to create mathematical formulas and execute functions.

Otherwise, it is not much more than a large table displaying text.

Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet package that incorporates new innovations in data analysis Charting and application development to mention just a few. 

Excel Formulas and Functions 

As mentioned, the ability to perform calculations or changing a cell value using formulas in Microsoft Excel is one of the purposes of using a spreadsheet application. Below are some variables used in Microsoft Excel formulas for better understanding.

There are lots of excel tutorial youtube videos, free and advanced excel formulas on the internet but here we’ve some easy to comprehend excel formulas with examples for you.

Some examples of the types of calculations that can be done with Ms Excel are as follows:

• Totals
• Subtotal
• Average
• Standard deviation
• Percentages
• Min
• Remark etc.

In Excel, the calculation can be specified using either a formula or a function.

• Formulas are self-defined instructions for performing calculations.
• In contrast, functions are pre-defined formulas that come with Excel.

In either case, all formulas and functions are entered in a cell and must begin with an equal sign ’=’.

Entering Formulas

Now let’s start with the Microsoft Excel tutorial. After the equal sign, a formula includes the addresses of the cells whose values will be manipulated with the appropriate operands placed in between. The operands are the standard arithmetic operators:

Operator	Meaning	Example
+	Addition	=A7+A9
–	Subtraction	=A7-A9
*	Multiplication	=A7*A9
/	Division	=A7/A9
ˆ	Exponents	=A7ˆA9

! Practice Exercise: Enter the following information into a blank worksheet (ignore any formatting) in columns A, B, and C, and in rows 1 through 5.

Then calculate the Total Cost for the fall semester using a formula to add up the individual Costs (Tuition, Books, etc.).

Costs	Fall	Spring
Tuition	1000	1000
Books	300	500
Expenses	20000	15000
Total Cost	21300	16500

Auto sum:

You can use the Auto sum icon on the standard toolbar, which automatically adds the contents of a cluster of adjacent cells.

• Select the cell that the sum will appear in that is outside the cluster of cells whose values will be added.
• Click the Auto sum button (Greek letter sigma,).
• Highlight the group of cells that will be summed.
• Press the Enter key on the keyboard or click the green check mark on the formula bar.

! Practice Exercise: In the Costs for the fall and spring semester spreadsheet, calculate the Total Cost

For the spring semester using the Auto sum icon.

• Click on cell C6 to activate it.
• Click the Auto sum button.
• Press Enter.

We will be updating this page with more Ms Excel formula list with examples, so we urge you to keep coming back for more – but while doing that, feel free to ask about anything you don’t understand the above microsoft excel tutorial.