Topic Outline

Basic Formulas and Functions

What is a formula?
Formulas calculate a list of
numbers (or values) in a
specific folder.
A formula in spreadsheet always
begin with an equal sign (=).
The equal sign tells that the
following numbers or cells
make up a formula. The general
rules of mathematics apply
here in deciding the order of

SUM Functions
The sum functions takes all the
values in each of the specified
cells and totals their values.
=sum(first value;second value;
etc)
Blank cells will return a value
of zero to be added to the total
Text cells can not be added to a
number and will produce an
error

AVERAGE functions
The average functions finds the
average of the specified data.
(Simplifies adding all of the
indicated cells together and
dividing by the total number of
cells.) The syntax as follows:
=average(first value;second
value;etc)
Text fields and blank entries

MAX functions
This will return the largest (max)
value in the selected range of
cells.
=max(first value;second
value;etc)
Blank entries are not included
in the calculations of the Max
Function
Text entries are not included in

MIN functions
This will return the smallest
(min) value in the selected
range of cells.
=min(first value;second
value;etc)

Blank entries are not included

in the calculations of the Max
Function
Text entries are not included

COUNT functions
This will return the number of
entries (actually counts each
cell that contains number
data) in the selected range of
cells.
=count(first value;second
value;etc)

Blank entries are not counted

Text entries are not counted

COUNTA functions
This will return the number of
entries (actually counts each
cell that contains number data
OR text data) in the selected
range of cells.
=countA(first value;second
value;etc)

Blank entries are NOT

counted

IF functions
The IF function will check the
logical condition of a
statement and return one
value if true and a different
value if false. The syntax is:
=if(test;then_value;otherwise_va
lue)
Value returned may be either a
number or text

CONCATENATE function
The CONCATENATE function, is a
text functions used to join two or
more words or text strings
together.
SYNTAX:
= CONCATENATE ( text1;
text2; ... text30 )
text1; text2; ... can be words,
cell references, blank spaces, or

LEFT Function
Returns the first character or
characters of a text.
SYNTAX:
= LEFT ( text; number )
text the piece of data you want
to change.
number specifies the number of
characters to be retained from
the text specified above.

TRIM Function
Removes extra spaces from text.
SYNTAX:
= TRIM ( text )
text the text in which extra
spaces between words are to be
deleted.