Page 317 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 1: Building Basic Formulas
In This Chapter
✓ Summing data ranges with AutoSum
✓ Creating simple formulas with operators
✓ Understanding the operators and their priority in the formula ✓ Using the Insert Function button on the Formula bar
✓ Copying formulas and changing the type of cell references
✓ Building array formulas
✓ Using range names in formulas
✓ Creating linking formulas that bring values forward
✓ Controlling formula recalculation
✓ Dealing with circular references in formulas
Formulas, to put it mildly, are the very “bread and butter” of the work- sheet. Without formulas, the electronic spreadsheet would be little better than its green-sheet paper equivalent. Fortunately, Excel gives you the ability to do all your calculations right within the cells of the worksheet without any need for a separate calculator.
The formulas that you build in a spreadsheet can run the gamut from very simple to extremely complex. Formulas can rely totally upon the use of simple operators or the use of built-in functions, both of which describe
the type of operation or calculation to perform and the order in which to perform it. Or they can blend the use of operators and functions together. When you use Excel functions in your formulas, you need to learn the par- ticular type of information that a particular function uses in performing its calculations. The information that you supply a function and that it uses in its computation is referred to as the argument(s) of the function.