Excel formulas and functions

Excel formulas and functions

Formulas and functions are the bread and butter of Excel. They drive almost everything interesting and useful you will ever do in a spreadsheet. This article introduces the basic concepts you need to know to be proficient with formulas in Excel.

What is a formula?

A formula in Excel is an expression that returns a specific result. For example:

=1+2=3.

Note:All formulas in Excel must begin with an equals sign (=).

Cell references:

In the examples above, values are "hardcoded". That means results won't change unless you edit the formula again and change a value manually. Generally, this is considered bad form, because it hides information and makes it harder to maintain a spreadsheet.

Instead, use cell references so values can be changed at any time. In the screen below, C1 contains the following formula:

Notice because we are using cell references for A1, A2, and A3, these values can be changed at any time and C1 will still show an accurate result.
All formulas return a result
All formulas in Excel return a result, even when the result is an error. Below a formula is used to calculate percent change. The formula returns a correct result in D2 and D3, but returns a #DIV/0! error in D4, because B4 is empty:

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