F1 Get the Most Out of Excel Formulas & Functions: The Ultimate Excel Formulas & Functions Help Guide 0974636851, 9780974636856

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F1 Get the Most out of Excel Formulas & Functions

The Ultimate Excel Formulas & Functions Help Guide

F1 Get the Most out of Excel Formulas & Functions

The Ultimate Excel Formulas & Functions Help Guide

Copyright 2005 by Joseph Rubin, CPA All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the publisher.

Written by:

Joseph Rubin, CPA

Published by: Limelight Media Inc. 12207 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA USA 90025 [email protected] www.limelightmediainc.com Distributed by: Limelight Media Inc. First printing: August 2005 Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN): 2005905906 ISBN: 9780974636856 Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks, or registered trade marks of their respective owners. Limelight Media Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

About The Author

About The Author Joseph Rubin, CPA, principal of www.exceltip.com (a leading Excel Web site) is the author of the very successful books: • F1 Get the Most out of Excel! The Ultimate Excel Tip Help Guide • Financial Statements.xls A Step by Step Guide on Creating Financial Statements Using Microsoft Excel • Mr Excel On Excel Joseph Rubin has over 27 years of financial experience in the accounting industry. He has served as CFO, Controller and has run his own CPA practice for many years. Joseph Rubin, CPA, is an independent consultant specializing in the development of applications using Microsoft Excel for the financial industry and has instructed thousands of professionals on Microsoft Excel. Contact the author - [email protected]

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How to Use this Resource Effectively In the Book Use the Table of Contents at the front of the book and the Index at the back to find the topic you are looking for. Each topic (Q&A) in the book contains the following parts: •

Title

•

Problem

•

Solution

•

Screenshot

•

Explanation

In Excel workbooks •

All the formula solutions presented in the book are included in working Excel workbook files.

On the Internet •

All the formula solutions presented in the book have been entered into the www.exceltip.com database. To discuss a specific formula, visit www.exceltip.com/fx- & the page number in the book. For example, if you want to discuss a formula from page 100, type the following URL into your browser: www.exceltip.com/fx-100.

How this Book is Organized

How this Book is Organized This book contains 10 chapters, 1 Appendix and Index: Chapter 1, Working With Formulas Chapter 2, Text Chapter 3, Date & Time Chapter 4, Lookup Chapter 5, Logical & Errors Chapter 6, Counting Chapter 7, Summing Chapter 8, List Chapter 9, Miscellaneous Calculation & Math Chapter 10, Income Tax & Financial Appendix, List of Functions Index

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Contents at a Glance Chapter 1 Working With Formulas ................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Text ............................................................................. 25 Chapter 3 Date & Time................................................................ 71 Chapter 4 Lookup ...................................................................... 159 Chapter 5 Logical & Errors......................................................... 215 Chapter 6 Counting ................................................................... 241 Chapter 7 Summing ................................................................... 289 Chapter 8 List ............................................................................ 331 Chapter 9 Miscellaneous Calculation & Math............................ 361 Chapter 10 Income Tax & Financial............................................. 429 Appendix List of Functions......................................................... 437 Index............................................................................................ 455

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Chapter 1 Working With Formulas ................................................ 1 Inserting, Editing, & Copying Formulas ........................................................................2 Inserting/Editing Formulas ........................................................................................2 Nesting Formulas .....................................................................................................3 Changing an Absolute Reference to a Relative Reference or Vice Versa ...................4 Copying a Formula from a Cell While Keeping the Absolute Reference or Relative Reference .........................................................................................5 Copying Formulas from a Range of Cells without Changing the Absolute or Relative References........................................................................................6 Selecting, Displaying, Printing, & Pasting Formulas .....................................................7 Displaying Formula Syntax.......................................................................................7 Displaying Both Formulas and Values for Cells ........................................................8 Selecting Cells That Contain Formulas......................................................................9 Pasting Values ........................................................................................................10 Adding a Comment to a Formula............................................................................11 Printing Formula Syntax .........................................................................................11 Array Formulas ..........................................................................................................12 Understanding Arrays.............................................................................................12 Using Arrays in Formulas .......................................................................................12 Using Range Names in Formulas................................................................................13 Range Name Syntax ...............................................................................................13 Defining a Range Name .........................................................................................14 Deleting a Range Name .........................................................................................15 Using a Range Name in a Formula .........................................................................15 Auditing Formulas......................................................................................................16 Moving Between Precedent and Dependent Cells ..................................................16

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Stepping into a Formula......................................................................................... 19 Tracing Errors in Formula Results........................................................................... 21 Protecting Formulas .................................................................................................. 22 Protecting Cells Containing Formulas in a Protected Sheet .................................... 22 Protecting Cells Containing Formulas in an Unprotected Sheet.............................. 24

Chapter 2 Text ............................................................................. 25 Entering Text ............................................................................................................. 27 Restricting Cell Entries to Text Only....................................................................... 27 Restricting the Number of Characters Entered into a Cell ....................................... 28 Preventing Duplicates When Entering Data ........................................................... 29 Combining Text, Date, & Number............................................................................. 30 Combining Text and Formatted Numbers into a Single Entity ................................ 30 Combining Text and a Formatted Date into a Single Entity .................................... 31 Combining Numbers that Have Leading Zeros ...................................................... 32 Combining the Contents of Every N Number of Cells into One Value.................... 33 Encoding a Sequence of Letters ............................................................................. 34 Combining Text and Numerically Calculated Results into One Output String........ 35 Text Formatting — Troubleshooting.......................................................................... 36 Formulas Erroneously Appearing as Text ............................................................... 36 Avoiding Problems when Numeric Values are used as Text................................... 37 Adjusting a Formula to Return a Blank, Rather than a Zero, When Operating on Empty Cells ................................................................................................ 39 Checking Whether Cells in a Range are Blank, and Counting the Blank Cells........ 40 Creating Formulas that Only Return Results from Non-Blank Cells ........................ 41 Removing Redundant Characters from a Range of Cells and Resetting the Format . 43 Removing Hidden Apostrophes from Imported Numbers....................................... 44 Subdividing Text........................................................................................................ 45 Subdividing a Mixed String into Separate Cells Containing only Numbers or Characters................................................................................................... 45 Splitting a Full Address into Three Separate Cells................................................... 47

Table of Contents

Separating First and Last Names .............................................................................48 Extracting the First N Number of Words from a String ............................................49 Replacing Characters .................................................................................................50 Creating New IP Addresses.....................................................................................50 Converting Numbers with Trailing Minus Signs to Normal Negative Numbers .......51 Replacing Substrings with Numbers from Adjacent Cells ........................................53 Performing Numeric Operations on Substrings .......................................................54 Searching a String ......................................................................................................55 Searching a String for a Matching Word from another String ..................................55 Find the Alphabetically Lowest Letter in a List ........................................................56 Identifying Numeric Values within a Range Formatted as Text ...............................58 Identifying the Case of Letters within Strings...........................................................59 Finding the Relative Position of Numbers within a String........................................60 Searching a String for a Specific Substring ..............................................................61 Determining Long Distance Phone Calls, Based on the Number Dialed .................63 Rearranging & Sorting Text ........................................................................................64 Rearranging a String in Alphabetic Order ...............................................................64 Reversing the Word Order within a String ..............................................................65 Retrieving Cell Address, Row Number .......................................................................66 Retrieving the Cell Address of the Largest Value in a Range....................................66 Retrieving Each Row Number that Corresponds with Successful Matches in a Look Up....................................................................................................67 Retrieving the Row Number that Corresponds with a Matched Value in a Look Up........................................................................................................68

Chapter 3 Date & Time................................................................ 71 Date ...........................................................................................................................72 Entering Dates Quickly...........................................................................................72 Calculating Number of Days, Weeks, Months and Years between Dates ................73 Calculating a Date Based on Year, Week Number and Day of the Week................74 Finding the Last Day of a Given Month ..................................................................75 Calculating the Number of Business Days in a Specified Period .............................77

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Calculating a Project’s End Date ............................................................................ 78 Calculating a Required Date According to Two Criteria......................................... 79 Indicating Due Payments, Based on the Current Date............................................ 80 Calculating the Date of the Nth Specific Day of the Month.................................... 81 Eliminating Negative Values from Date Subtractions ............................................. 83 Avoiding Negative Values when Calculating the Number of Days between Two Dates ........................................................................................ 84 Avoiding False Results when Counting Dates Matching Specified Criteria ............. 85 Calculating the Week Number Corresponding with a Specific Date ...................... 87 Determining whether Two Given Dates Occur within the Same Week .................. 88 Finding the Number of Days in a Given Month ..................................................... 89 Finding the Serial Number of the Last Day of the Month........................................ 90 Adding a Specified Number of Months to a Date................................................... 92 Converting a Month’s Serial Number into Its Corresponding Name ....................... 94 Calculating the Quarter Number for Calendar and Fiscal Year............................... 95 Converting a Date into a String, Indicating the Quarter Number and Year ............. 97 Determining Which Quarter a Specified Date Corresponds With .......................... 98 Converting Older Dates to the Current Year .......................................................... 99 Converting a Julian Date to a Calendar Date ....................................................... 100 Time ........................................................................................................................ 102 Entering Times Quickly (1) .................................................................................. 102 Entering Times Quickly (2) .................................................................................. 103 Adding Time Values ............................................................................................ 106 Adding Text Values Representing Time................................................................ 106 Adding Time Values from Separate Hours and Minutes Columns ........................ 107 Adding a Number to a Formatted Time Value...................................................... 108 Calculating Absolute Difference between Two Time Values ................................ 109 Subtracting Times ................................................................................................ 111 Converting a Decimal Value to a Time Value ...................................................... 112 Converting Text Representing Minutes and Seconds into Numerical Values ........ 113 Converting Times to Decimal Values................................................................... 114 Calculating Military Time Intervals ...................................................................... 115

Table of Contents

Converting Time Values from One Time Zone to Another ....................................117 Creating a World Time Converter .........................................................................118 Rounding Times Down to the Nearest 30 Seconds ...............................................119 Rounding Times Down to a Specified Time Increment .........................................120 Rounding Hours Up .............................................................................................121 Rounding Time Intervals to the Nearest Specified Time Increment .......................122 Calculating a Building’s Occupancy Rate at Specified Times................................123 Date & Time.............................................................................................................125 Creating Date and Time Stamp.............................................................................125 Convert Date and Time from GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to CST (Central Standard Time) .................................................................................126 Combining Data from Separate Columns into a Single Date and Time Value .......127 Converting Text, Which Represents Date and Time, Into Proper Date and Time Values ............................................................................................128 Calculating the Number of Weekday Hours between Two Dates .........................130 Separating Dates and Times .................................................................................131 Creating a Date and Time Matrix..........................................................................132 Wages, Shifts & Time Worked..................................................................................135 Creating a Timesheet............................................................................................135 Finding the First Login and Last Logout Times of Employees.................................136 Calculating Total Time Worked on a Specific Day ..............................................139 Calculating Hours Worked ...................................................................................140 Calculating the Number of Hours Worked Based on a System of Letter Codes .....143 Calculating Total Pay, Based on Hours Worked Per Day and Hourly Rates ..........144 Calculating Daily Pay, Incorporating Variable Hourly Rates .................................147 Determining Whether a Person Worked a Full or Partial Shift...............................149 Determining Whether a Worked Shift Was Morning, Afternoon or Night .............151 Counting the Number of Shifts in a Specified Week that an Employee Worked Overtime ..........................................................................................152 Calculating the Number of Hours per Month, Allowing for Daylight-Saving Shifts ....................................................................................154 Counting Vacation or Sick Days within a Specified Time Period ..........................156

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Calculating Hourly Productivity........................................................................... 157

Chapter 4 Lookup ...................................................................... 159 Retrieving Data Using Text References ................................................................... 160 Retrieving Values Using References Based on Row and Column Numbers .......... 160 Retrieving Each Second Number from Two Lists.................................................. 161 Retrieving Values Using Range Names as References (1) ..................................... 162 Retrieving Values Using Range Names as References (2) ..................................... 163 Retrieving Values from Different Sheets Using the Sheet Name as a Reference .... 164 Retrieving Values from another Sheet Using Date as Sheet Name Reference ....... 165 Retrieving a Specific Cell from Multiple Sheets.................................................... 166 Retrieving Values from another Excel Workbook Using Text References.............. 167 Retrieving the Price for a Specified Item and a Specified Brand ........................... 168 Retrieving Data Using One Criterion.......................................................................... 170 Retrieving from List by Position ........................................................................... 170 Ranking Salespeople According to Sales Figure ................................................... 170 Retrieving the Player Who Scored the Highest Number of Points......................... 172 Retrieving File Name by Matching a Given Page Number in a Book ................... 173 Retrieving Grade Value for Corresponding Mark ................................................. 174 Retrieving the Most Frequent Occurrence for Each Category ............................... 175 Retrieving the Last Value and the Last Character in a Row................................... 177 Retrieving the Last Value in a Dynamic List ......................................................... 178 Retrieving the Value of the First Non-blank Cell in a List ..................................... 179 Retrieving the Most Recent Payment Made by Client........................................... 180 Retrieving the Closest Larger / Closest Smaller Values from a List when there is No Exact Match ......................................................................................... 181 Retrieving the First Value in a List that is Greater / Smaller than a Specified Number ......................................................................................... 183 Finding the Maximal / Minimal String, Based on Alphabetic Order...................... 184 Retrieve Value Using Case-Sensitive Lookups...................................................... 186 Retrieving the Minimal / Maximal Values from a Filtered List .............................. 187 Retrieving Smallest Nth Value Match within a List............................................... 189

Table of Contents

Finding Every Third Number and Returning the Largest of Them ..........................190 Retrieving the Nth Value in a Row / Column ........................................................192 Retrieving Every Nth Value in a Range .................................................................193 Retrieve the Distance between Any Two Cities from Distance Table ....................194 Retrieving Matching Values from Not Adjacent List.............................................195 Retrieving Data Using Two Criteria .........................................................................196 Retrieving an Item from a List that Meets Multiple Criteria (1)...............................196 Retrieving an Item from a List that Meets Multiple Criteria (2)...............................198 Retrieving Sale Price Based on Item and Color Criteria.........................................199 Retrieving a Price from a List that Matches both Category and Item Criteria .........200 Retrieving an Entire Row of Data.............................................................................201 Retrieving the Entire Row of a Matched Value......................................................201 Returning the Entire Contents of the Row Containing the Highest Math Grade .....203 Retrieving Data from Two Different Lists.................................................................204 Retrieving a Price Value by Looking at Two Difference Data Tables.....................204 Complex Retrieval Problems ....................................................................................206 Retrieving the Column Header of the Next Non-Blank Cell in a Row ...................206 Finding the First Value in a Row and Retrieving the Header for That Column.......207 Retrieving the Column Header that Corresponds with a Matched Value...............208 Retrieving the Column Header of the Largest Value in a Row...............................210 Retrieving a Value from a Reference Grid, Using Indexes Listed in another Range................................................................................................211

Chapter 5 Logical & Errors......................................................... 215 Reducing Complexity of IF Functions.......................................................................216 Simplifying Formulas by Reducing the Complexity of IF Functions (1) ..................216 Simplifying Formulas by Reducing the Complexity of IF Functions (2) ..................218 Create Conditional Formula by Reducing the Complexity of IF Functions (3)........219 Using OR, AND Functions .......................................................................................221 Nesting OR & AND Functions to Meet Multiple Criteria (1)..................................221 Nesting OR & AND Functions to Meet Multiple Criteria (2)..................................222

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Checking for the Presence of Specified Values within a Range. ........................... 223 Handling Errors ....................................................................................................... 224 Ignoring Blank Cells when Performing Calculations............................................. 224 Avoiding the #VALUE! Error when Adding Cells that May Contain Blanks........... 225 Avoiding #DIV/0! Errors when Dividing by Zero ................................................. 226 Ignoring #DIV/0! Errors when Performing Calculations........................................ 227 Eliminating Errors Resulting from If Functions with Multiple Conditions .............. 229 Avoiding Errors when Using the And Function to Combine Multiple Conditions in Array Formulas........................................................................ 230 Avoiding Errors when Counting Date Values that Meet Specified Criteria ............ 231 Avoiding Errors when Subtracting Times.............................................................. 233 Handling Errors with the VLOOKUP Function ........................................................ 234 Preventing a VLOOKUP Function from Returning an Error when an Exact Match is Not Found ............................................................................. 234 Avoiding the Occurrence of Unexpected VLOOKUP #N/A Errors ....................... 235 Using a VLOOKUP Formula to Check If a Value Exists........................................ 237 Checking If Matching Numbers Exist in Different Ranges..................................... 238

Chapter 6 Counting ................................................................... 241 The COUNT Functions............................................................................................ 242 Using the COUNT Functions............................................................................... 242 Counting Using One Criterion ................................................................................ 244 Counting Unique Numeric Values or Unique Data in a List................................. 244 Counting the Number of Values Below or Above Average................................... 246 Counting Values that Appear Only Once in a List............................................... 247 Counting the Number of Times a Specified Substring Appears within a Range of Strings ....................................................................................................... 248 Counting the Number of Cells Containing Text (1)............................................... 250 Counting the Number of Cells Containing Text (2)............................................... 251 Counting the Number of Combined First and Last Names Matching Criteria in a Dynamic Range...................................................................................... 252 Counting the Number of Times a Substring Appears Within a String.................... 255

Table of Contents

Counting the Number of Strings which Contain Numbers Meeting Criteria ..........256 Counting Date Values by Specified Date Criteria..................................................257 Counting the Number of Dates with Matching Month Criteria..............................258 Counting Time Values In Terms of Hourly Increments..........................................260 Counting the Number of Values Meeting Criteria, but Only for Every 3rd | Cell in a Range ..............................................................................................261 Counting Rows of Even Numbers in Two Parallel Ranges.....................................263 Counting the Number of Values from Multiple Worksheets that Match Criteria ....264 Counting Using Two Criteria ...................................................................................265 Counting Rows that Match Specific Criteria for Each Column...............................265 Counting the Number of Values between Two Specified Values in a List..............266 Counting the Number of Values between Upper and Lower Limits.......................268 Counting the Number of Unique Items Sold by Each Salesperson.........................269 Counting the Number of Players According to Their Score in a Particular Quarter ..........................................................................................271 Counting the Number of Students who Answered "A" to the Second Question .....272 Counting the Number of Excel Files in a List According to File Type and Date Criteria ..................................................................................................273 Using Date & Time Criteria to Count Entries in a Combined Date & Time List......275 Counting the Number of Items Sold Every Half Hour............................................276 Complex Counting Problems....................................................................................277 Counting the Number of Times Any of the Numbers in First List Appears within Second List..........................................................................................277 Creating Progressively Incremented Counting Criteria ..........................................278 Counting the Values that Match Criteria in a Filtered List .....................................280 Creating a Summary Table of a Student Questionnaire .........................................281 Counting the Number of YES Responses in a Student Questionnaire ....................283 Counting Unique "X" and "O" Occurrences in a Matrix ........................................285 Creating a Counting Grid .....................................................................................286

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Chapter 7 Summing ................................................................... 289 Summing Techniques & Tips ................................................................................... 290 Summing the Values of Cells Occurring at the Intersection of Ranges.................. 290 Summing Values from Different Sheets for the Same Cell Address ....................... 291 Creating a Summing Formula that Automatically Adjusts to a Dynamic Range .... 292 Summing the Absolute Values of All Numbers in a Range ................................... 293 Summing Subtotals Only from Range .................................................................. 294 Modifying a SUMPRODUCT function to Return a Sum Rather than a Count ....... 295 Summing Rounded Numbers............................................................................... 296 Summing Values Based on Text, Text & Numbers, & Blank Cell Criteria ................ 298 Summing Values Based on Text Criteria .............................................................. 298 Summing Values from a List Containing Numerical and Textual Substrings ......... 299 Summing Numerical Substrings ........................................................................... 300 Summing Values in a Range Containing Redundant Spaces................................. 301 Ignoring Blank Cells Containing Invisible Spaces when Using Array Formulas..... 302 Summing Values Based on the Criteria of a Non-Empty Adjacent Cell................. 304 Summing Using Indirect Cell References ................................................................ 305 Summing Values Using Indirect Cell References.................................................. 305 Summing Across Multiple Sheets ......................................................................... 306 Summing from Closed Workbooks ...................................................................... 308 Summing Using One or More Criteria..................................................................... 310 Summing Positive and Negative Numbers Separately .......................................... 310 Sum Total Sales Except for One Specified Item .................................................... 311 Summing Corresponding Values in Multiple Columns ......................................... 312 Summing Sales Amounts According to Product Category and Customer Name.... 313 Summing Total Sales, Based on Quantity & Price ................................................ 314 Summing Values from Two Ranges, Based on Two Criteria ................................. 315 Summing How Many Points Scored by a Specified Team in Specified Games ..... 317 Summing Expenses Accumulated to a Specified Month ....................................... 319 Calculating Monthly and Accumulated Income, Based on Specified Month ........ 320 Summing Annual Expenses by Respective Quarters ............................................. 322

Table of Contents

Summing the Number of Hours an Employee Worked During a Two Week Period ..........................................................................................323 Summing Last N Values............................................................................................324 Summing Groups of Every N Values in a Row ......................................................324 Summing the Last N Values in a Column..............................................................326 Summing the N Largest Values in a Range............................................................327 Creating a List in which Each Number is the Sum of the Previous N Numbers......328

Chapter 8 List ............................................................................ 331 Sorting, Reversing, & Retrieving Values ...................................................................332 Sorting Numbers in Ascending or Descending Order ...........................................332 Sorting Numbers Based on Their Frequency within a List .....................................333 Reversing the Order of Values in a List .................................................................335 Shuffling a List of Values ......................................................................................336 Creating a New List Using Criteria...........................................................................338 Retrieving Unique Values from a List....................................................................338 Retrieving List Values that Do Not Appear in a Second List ..................................340 Retrieving Values that are Common to Two Lists ..................................................342 Creating a List of All Non-Blank Cells in a Column ..............................................344 Retrieving Values from a List that are Greater than a Specified Number ...............345 Checking for Sequences within a Sorted List.........................................................347 Identifying Duplicate Values....................................................................................348 Checking for Duplicate Values within a Range.....................................................348 Identifying Duplicate Rows within a Range ..........................................................350 Determining and Indicating the Number of Times Each Value Has Been Entered in a List .............................................................................................351 Transposing a List.....................................................................................................352 Transposing an Entire Range of Data into a Single Column...................................352 Transposing a Column into Successive Rows of a Specified Length ......................355 Transposing a Range in Ascending Order .............................................................356 Transposing Values from Columns into Rows, and Vice Versa..............................357

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Chapter 9 Miscellaneous Calculation & Math............................ 361 Averaging Values..................................................................................................... 363 Calculating Average Annual Growth ................................................................... 363 Calculating the Average Growth of a Child.......................................................... 364 Averaging Using Criteria ......................................................................................... 365 Calculating the Average for Numbers Meeting Specified Criteria ......................... 365 Calculating the Average Difference between List Price and Sale Price ................. 366 Finding Specified Items in a List and Averaging their Associated Values .............. 368 Excluding Exceptional Values when Calculating an Average ............................... 369 Calculating an Average, Only Including Prices on Which There Was no Discount .................................................................................................. 371 Averaging Sales Totals by Day of the Week ......................................................... 372 Averaging Values that Correspond with the X Largest Values in a Dynamic Range ............................................................................................ 374 Calculating the Average of a Range of Numbers, Excluding the Minimal Value ... 376 Calculating the Average of Every Nth Value ........................................................ 377 Calculating the Average of Every Nth Value, Excluding Zeros.............................. 378 Calculating the Average Value in Every Nth Column, Excluding Zeros ................ 380 Finding Minimum / Maximum Values....................................................................... 382 Finding the Minimum Value in a Referenced Range ............................................ 382 Calculating the Lowest Common Multiple (LCM)................................................. 383 Returning the Nth Largest / Smallest Values in a Range........................................ 385 Finding the Largest Number among Those Meeting Specified Criteria.................. 386 Finding the Score that Was the Nth Highest for a Specified Team........................ 387 Finding the Largest Value from Two Different Lists, Subject to Specified Criteria . 388 Rounding Values ..................................................................................................... 390 Rounding Prices to the Nearest Nickel, Dime, Quarter and Dollar ...................... 390 Dividing an Amount into Equal Payments While Avoiding Division / Rounding Errors ............................................................................................ 391 Rounding the Calculation of Retail Price and Sales Tax ....................................... 393 Rounding Up / Down to the Nearest Multiple of a Specific Number.................... 394 Rounding Numbers that Meet Specified Criteria .................................................. 395

Table of Contents

Rounding Numerical Substrings ...........................................................................396 Rounding a Value to Make It Divisible by a Specified Number.............................397 Ranking Values.........................................................................................................398 Ranking a List of Numbers....................................................................................398 Ranking Numbers in a Dynamic List ....................................................................399 Calculating Commissions Based on Sales Rank ....................................................401 Random Calculation.................................................................................................402 Selecting a Set of Random Numbers, Avoiding Duplicates ...................................402 Adjusting Values Returned by the RAND Function ...............................................404 Randomly Selecting a Value from a Range ...........................................................405 Random Selection from a List ...............................................................................406 Miscellaneous Calculation .......................................................................................407 Creating a Dynamic Inventory List Based on Daily Sales ......................................407 Calculating Net Sale Price According to Text Criteria ...........................................409 Calculating the Proportion of Characters from One String that Appears in another String ................................................................................................410 Calculating the Remaining Credit after Each Purchase..........................................411 Calculating Total Annual Payment Based on Cumulative Monthly Payments........413 Placing the Previous Payment Date beside Each Pay Date in a List.......................414 Restricting the Automatic Recalculation of Volatile Functions ..............................416 Calculating the Percentage of Cells in a Range that Contain a Specified String .....418 Calculating the Absolute Difference between Each List Value and the Minimum Value in the List .............................................................................................419 Determining Divisibility .......................................................................................420 Multiplying Values from Two Matrixes that Occupy Corresponding Addresses.....421 Converting Decimal Fractions to Fractions of a Specified Number .......................422 Simplifying Formulas by Defining Names for Often-Repeated Parts......................424 Converting Units......................................................................................................426

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Chapter 10 Income Tax & Financial........................................... 429 Calculating Income Tax........................................................................................... 430 Calculating Total Income Tax .............................................................................. 430 Financial Formulas .................................................................................................. 432 Using Financial Functions ................................................................................... 432 Calculating Canadian Mortgage Payments........................................................... 433 Amortization Tables ................................................................................................ 434 Creating an Amortization Schedule ..................................................................... 434 Creating an Amortization Schedule with a Grace Period ..................................... 435 Creating an Amortization Schedule for Random Loan Payments.......................... 436

Appendix List of Functions......................................................... 437 Index............................................................................................ 455

Working With Formulas Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Working With Formulas About This Chapter This chapter contains fundamentals, shortcuts, tips, and techniques that are essential when working with Formulas & Functions. It includes the following sections:

) Inserting, Editing, & Copying Formulas, page 2: This section covers easy techniques on inserting, editing, and copying formulas, understanding the correct use of relative/absolute references, and creating power formulas. ) Selecting, Displaying, Printing & Pasting Formulas, page 7: In this section you will find techniques on displaying formula syntax, displaying formulas and values, selecting cells containing formulas, pasting values, adding comments to formulas, and printing formula syntax.

) Array Formulas, page 12: This section provides an explanation of the concept of an Array and how Excel uses Arrays in formulas, You will also learn how to create an Array formula.

) Using Range Names in Formulas, page 13: In this section, learn about range name rules, how to define range names, and how to use range Names in formulas. ) Auditing Formulas, page 16: In this section, find essential shortcuts and techniques on tracing and moving between precedent and dependent cells, stepping into formulas, and tracing errors in a formula.

) Protecting Formulas, page 22: In this section, you will learn how to protect formulas in both protected and unprotected sheets.

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Inserting, Editing, & Copying Formulas Inserting/Editing Formulas ¾

¾ ¾

To open the Insert Function dialog box: Select an empty cell and press .

To open a Function Arguments dialog box: Select a cell containing a formula and press .

To insert a new Formula into a cell using the Function Arguments dialog box: 1. Select an empty cell, and then type the = sign. 2. Type the formula name and press .

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Working With Formulas Chapter 1

To insert a formula by typing it while being guided by the formula syntax tooltip: 1. Select an empty cell, and then type the = sign followed by the formula name and a left parenthesis, i.e. (. 2. Press (in Excel version 2003 the syntax appears immediately after step 1 above).

Nesting Formulas

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A formula can be copied and pasted into the appropriate place within another formula in the Formula Bar by using the and keyboard shortcuts.

To combine Formulas into one long nested power Formula: 1. Insert the following formula into a cell: =SUMIF(TB_DB_Level3,A12,G12) 2. Insert the following formula into an adjacent cell: =OFFSET(TB_DB_Level3,0,MonthSelectionNumber+2) 3. In the Formula Bar of the second formula, select the formula without the = sign, and then press . 4. Click Cancel or Enter (the two buttons between the Name Box and the formula in the Formula Bar) to exit edit mode. 5. Select the cell containing the first formula, and in the Formula Bar, select the reference G12, and then press .

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Changing an Absolute Reference to a Relative Reference or Vice Versa ) Relative Reference

When a formula is copied, a Relative reference is used. A Relative reference is the distance, in rows and columns, between the reference and the cell containing the formula. Example: In cell A1, type the number 100, and in cell B1, type the formula =A1. Cell B1 is one column to the right of cell A1. When the formula is copied from cell B1 to cell B10, the distance between the reference and the cell containing the formula remains one column, and the formula in cell B10 is =A10.

) Absolute Reference Select cell B1 from the previous example. In the Formula Bar, select A1, and then press . The result is =$A$1. Copy the contents of cell B1 to cell B10. Notice that the formula does not change — the formula reference remains constant as =$A$1.

Working With Formulas Chapter 1

) The Key The keyboard shortcut has four states: State 1: Absolute reference to the column and row, =$A$1 State 2: Relative reference (column) and Absolute reference (row), =A$1 State 3: Absolute reference (column) and Relative reference (row), =$A1 State 4: Relative reference to the column and row, =A1

Copying a Formula from a Cell While Keeping the Absolute Reference or Relative Reference ¾

Avoid the nightmare of pressing multiple times when coping and pasting formulas.

To copy/paste a Formula without changing the Absolute or Relative references: Option 1: Select a cell under the cell containing a formula and press . Option 2: Copy and paste the formula from the Formula Bar to a cell, instead of from a cell to another cell. Example, cell C12 contains a formula: 1. Select the formula string in the Formula Bar and press to copy it. 2. Leave the Formula Bar by clicking the Enter or Cancel icons to the left of the fx on the Formula Bar. 3. Select another cell and press .

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Copying Formulas from a Range of Cells without Changing the Absolute or Relative References ¾

To copy/paste Formulas from a range of cells without changing the Absolute or Relative references: 1. Select the range of cells containing the formulas and press . 2. In the Find what box, type the = sign. 3. In the Replace with box, type the # symbol (to change the formulas to text). 4. Click Replace All, and then click Close. 5. Copy and paste the cells to a new location. 6. Repeat steps 1 through 3, reversing the # and = signs (to change the text to formulas).

Working With Formulas Chapter 1

Selecting, Displaying, Printing, & Pasting Formulas Displaying Formula Syntax ¾

To display the syntax of all formulas in a sheet:

™ Press (the ‘ symbol is located to the left of the number 1 on the keyboard). OR From the Tools menu, select Options, the View tab, Formulas, and then click OK.

™ To return to the normal display, press again (this keyboard shortcut is a toggle).

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F1 Get the Most out of Excel Formulas & Functions

Regular display:

Displaying Formulas:

Displaying Both Formulas and Values for Cells ¾

To display both formulas and values for cells: 1. From the Window menu, select New Window. 2. From the Window menu, select Arrange. 3. Select the Horizontal option button and click OK. 4. Select one of the two windows and press (the key to the left of the number 1).

Working With Formulas Chapter 1

To move between windows, press or .

Selecting Cells That Contain Formulas ¾

To select cells containing Formulas in order to color, delete, or protect, use the Go To dialog box:

1. Press . OR From the Edit menu, select Go To. 2. In the Go To dialog box, click Special. 3. Select Formulas, and then click OK.

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F1 Get the Most out of Excel Formulas & Functions

Pasting Values ¾

¾ ¾

To paste the calculated value of a single formula into a cell (thus overwriting the formula): Press to edit and then to calculate.

To paste the calculated value of a single formula into the cell below the cell containing the formula: Press