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Tools for Information Literacy ⑪ Data control

Functions

Functions are built-in specialized algorithms

Excel formulas: The most popular functions and tools, with examples

They can apply to an individual cell or to a range of cells, on the same spreadsheet,
or on another worksheet in the same workbook,
or on another worksheet in another workbook.

[image of a formula with descriptive labels]

Formula
A formula starts with =,
and is followed by arithmetic operators
and cell addresses
For example:
=D4+D5+D6+D7
means
equalsD4plusD5plusD6plusD7

Function
A function is a predefined formula
that performs a mathematical operation
on a group of cells
For example:
=SUM(D4:D7)
means
equals add together the contents of cells D4 through D7
or
equalsD4+D5+D6+D7

Functions have three parts

the = sign which tells Excel that a formula or function follows
the function name such as SUM for addition
or AVERAGE for determining the average of a series of numbers
the cells on which the particular function operates must be enclosed by parentheses, which contain the cell references so that the function knows which cells to calculate
this naming logic is very similar to what we have seen before where a function is applied to a range of cells

options for entering functions (or formulas, as well) into the spreadsheet

in the formula bar
directly into the cell
use the name box
OR use the Function Wizard to help you create the desired results

[Windows displaying a power function]

Examples of functions

=SUM(D4,I48,V65)
=AVERAGE(D1:D18)

Functions can perform mathematical operations on a group of cells

=SUM(D4:D7)
means
equalsadd togetherthe contents ofcells D4 through D7
or
equalsD4+D5+D6+D7

For argument of function:

if individual cells, use commas

=SUM(D2,D3,D5)
means
equalsaddD2 and D3 and D5

if a range of cells, use a colon

= SUM(F2:F4,F7:F17)
means
equalsaddF2 through F4 and F7 through F17together

Common Functions include:

Here's a more extensive discussion, one which connects VLOOKUP with relational databases

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