Excel Beginners

Intro To Formulas: Step 3 To Mastering Spreadsheets

Discovering the power of spreadsheets

What Is A Formula?

A formula is and valid sequence of functions, references, constants, and operators. In more general terms it is the language which users must use in order for Excel to understand what is being asked of it. The tasks that can be requested range from returning a simple “hello!”, to performing a regression analysis on a set of data, and beyond. Formulas are the basis of any manipulation which is done in Excel.

Every formula begins with the infamous equals sign (=), and from there become as diverse as the people who use Excel! What is important to note is that within Excel, if the system detects that you are trying to enter a formula which is invalid due to evident formatting issues, it will reject the formula and offer a solution if it finds one. The biggest issue with these solutions is that unless it is a very simple formula, it will often time not resolve the problem. Rather it will append parenthesis or other common missing notation to the end of a function in order to make it acceptable enough in the system. Under these circumstances it is strongly suggested to review the formula step by step to see if you can find where the error originated.

Once you have a working formula, it is then able to live out its life’s goal: To display the output of the necessary calculations. The primary purpose of a formula is to display something which otherwise would have required manual intervention and the manipulation of other data. Again, these things can be very simple or very complex, but as long as they save you time, or accomplish a goal, they are useful.

One important way to learn how to build formulas is to integrate them into as many (realistically) workflows as you can. While it might initially take less time to select a range of cells to get their total, replace that with the use of a formula that leverages the SUM function. It is these small steps that will help to build confidence and knowledge. As your needs increase, so will your skill level.