We’ve seen functions that use numbers, now let’s look at another type of function: text functions. I hope you’re getting the hang of it, these are really some of the most crucial Excel skills you’re learning right now. It’s just a matter of using the right function and filling in the right references (or filling in the numbers directly, if you want). Nice! If you’ve completed the SUM exercise, this one shouldn’t be too hard. So it may look like I’m screaming SUM at you, but that’s just how it is written. That’s just the way function names in Excel are. Note: you may have noticed by now that both of these functions are written in all-caps. You could do this in Excel by typing =SUM(1,2,3,4,5)/5 into a cell. For example, the average of the number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 is: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 divided by 5, because there are 5 numbers. A step up: AverageĬalculating the average of a group of numbers is quite simple: you sum them all up and divide by how many number you have. I’d encourage you to use the solution that is most intuitive to you. In Excel, there are often multiple ways of solving the same problem. So it is equivalent to using =SUM(B2,B3,B4,B5). In this case, that means cells B2 up to and including B5. The colon : is used to mean a cell range. Note about the answer: if you looked at the answer to the above exercise, you saw a notation that you may not have seen before. Or if it was a little difficult, that when you looked at the answer, it made sense. Great job! If this was your first function, you can be extra proud of yourself. We will be using the SUM function to calculate our total monthly income after expenses. Whenever you edit the value in cell A1, the result of =SUM(A1, A2) will also automatically update! And that’s why references are so ridiculously useful.
PRACTICE SHEETS FOR EXCEL UPDATE
These references can be super handy because they update automatically if the contents of the cells change. If cell A1 contains 1 and cell A2 contains 2, then the result will be 3. So the result will be different depending on the values in cells A1 and A2. When you do that, it will instead sum the contents of the cells that you reference. We know the SUM function will sum the values that you give it, but in this case we give it references to cells. That’s because the formula uses references to cells A1 and A2. What do you think the result will be? The answer is: it depends. So what are references? Once again, an example will explain this very quickly. In this next exercise, we will combine the SUM function with another interesting Excel feature: references. But you can add more numbers (separated by commas) to the function: =SUM(32,57,1) will result in 90, for example. If you write this in a cell, it will show 89. We can recreate the formula that we created in the exercise above ( =32+57), but using the SUM function. The SUM function will sum the values that you give it. It’s easiest to understand with an example: Functions are basically formulas with names.
PRACTICE SHEETS FOR EXCEL HOW TO
Now that we’ve seen how to include formulas in Excel spreadsheets, we can get to the real deal: functions. You can try all of these different calculations in the editor above if you want.Īnd just like that, you have learned how Excel formulas work! You can now get rid of your calculator 😉 Using Excel beginner functions: SUM Or you can use the asterisk * to multiply. The cool thing about this is that you can substitute the + for a minus – and it will also work. I hope the number 89 is showing in cell A1 of the spreadsheet editor above. You can also reset the editor back to its default contents using the Reset button. After clicking Show answer, you can click on the cell to see the formula that was used in the formula bar. Note: all of our exercises have a Show answer button in the top-right that you can click if you cannot figure out what the answer has to be.
Well done! That wasn’t very difficult, was it? But it is a humble beginning to a very powerful feature of Excel. The resulting cell content becomes =32+57. After that, we add our formula, so 32+57 in this case. To start with a formula in Excel, we have to fill in the equals sign = into a cell. However, we won’t be doing that ourselves, we will be making Excel do the hard work for us. We will be calculating the result of 32+57. Don’t worry, they are really not as complicated as they sound. If you want to work with Excel, it is wise to at least know what a formula looks like and why a formula is handy. Let me explain why: formulas and functions are the bread and butter of Excel. ‘That’s way too advanced for a first Excel beginner exercise.’ It’s not really.
We will slowly ramp up the difficulty from beginner to advanced so if things are too easy for you, just scroll down a bit.
In this article, I’m going to walk you through a couple of Excel exercises that are perfect for beginners.
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