Formulas in Excel - Business Computing Tips

By K&K Fainges kfainges@...

How do you get excel to add up things for you, average results or put
in numbers only if some condition has been met? You use formulas.

Excel has wizards to help you use most formulas. But for all of them,
you can go to INSERT - FUNCTION. You are then presented with a list
of categories, each one holding all the pre-created formulas.
The 'Most Recently Used' category is often the most useful as you
tend to use the same formulas all the time.

Sum or 'add all the numbers up' function, is the most frequently used
by most people.

In fact this function is on the standard toolbar as well as S. To use
it, highlight the numbers you wish to add up (by clicking on the
first one, holding the mouse key down and dragging up to the last one
and then letting go), chose that function and a formula will pop up
like =SUM(A1:A4). Then hit enter. Viola, all added up. And if you add
a row or column in later on between the ones you've chosen, it will
include that number as well, automatically.

For most modern versions, if you click on the function without
highlighting the numbers first, Excel will make the best guess and
normally guesses right. If it doesn't, then highlight the numbers
with your mouse before hitting enter and it will fill the right ones
in.

What if you want to add numbers that aren't in a straight line? Or
skip a number? Then hit the control key on your keyboard, marked
Ctrl, before clicking on each number that you want to include.

Next K-tips will cover other functions, please email me at
kfainges@... and let me know if you want any particular
one covered. Or any other topic.

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Please feel free to pass it on to your friends, just let them know I
wrote it.

Karen Fainges holds a Bachelor of Business, and a Grad. Cert of
Vocational and Educational Training. All this is nice but it's the 14
years of having to make sales or starve that makes her think she has
really learnt what does and doesn't work. A tutor for all ages, she
specialises in helping people get started on the long road to
technology.

"It has to be practical, it has to be cheap, and it has to work."