Excel Beginners

Data Types and Formatting: Step 2 To Mastering Spreadsheets

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Boolean (Logical) Values

What Is A Boolean (Logical) Value?

A Boolean, or logical, value is something which only comes in two states. It is represented by the words “TRUE” or “FALSE”, which equate to either a “1” or “0” value respectively. These can be inputs from a user, or outputs from a formula.

Boolean values are most often produced as an output of a comparison between two similarly formatted inputs. There are situations where you may want to manually input a Boolean value into a formula or function, but it is rare.

How Do Boolean (Logical) Values Work?

In Excel using a value of zero or one will only be considered a Boolean value in the context of specific functions such as the IF function and its associated group of functions, or when placed into a mathematics equation for comparison.

When we use the term comparison it is referencing specific operators such as the equals sign (=), the less than sign (<), the greater than sign (>), and all other associated operators.

Boolean values will be used to represent if a comparison between two or more expressions is true or not. An easy example of this would be validating a basic maths equation like 1+1=2. Excel will perform the necessary calculations, simplifying the equations to 2=2, and give it a TRUE or FALSE output based on the validity of the statement.

What Are Boolean (Logical) Values Used For?

Boolean outputs are a part of many of Excel’s tools, but are most notably used in all the ‘Logical’ functions available, are the outcomes of many of the ‘Information’ functions available, and are core components of both the ‘Conditional Formatting’ and ‘Data Validation’ tools.

Within formulas, Boolean outputs are used to determine from a series of potential choices which one will be the final output. This is the basic principle behind the IF function.

While being potentially the most abstract of the data types, it has found its way into the toolkit of most users without their even knowing of its existence as a data type.

Having an understanding of what and how Boolean values work will allow you to understand what a function is trying to accomplish. This information becomes invaluable when troubleshooting an existing formula, or in the creation of your own complex formulas, only matched in importance by error values.