Buzz
For a long time, Microsoft Excel has been considered the standard software for data analysis and processing. Many departments in the office, such as accounting, data processors, and administrative personnel, favor this software. Mastering essential functions in Excel is a crucial first step for you to self-learn Excel and become more proficient in handling personal data.
Basic Excel functions, formulas, and how to use them
1. SUM Function: Add values in cells.
2. IF Condition Function.
3. LEFT Function: Get characters from the left.
4. RIGHT Function: Get characters from the right.
5. MIN Function: Find the smallest value.
6. MAX Function: Find the largest value.
7. AVERAGE Function: Calculate the average value.
8. TRIM Function: Remove spaces in a text.
9. CONCATENATE Function: Join strings.
10. COUNT Function: Count numerical data.
11. COUNTA Function: Count cells with data.
12. Length of string function.
13. Display current system time with NOW function.
14. SUMIF Function: Sum values based on a condition.
15. COUNTIF Function: Count data based on a condition.
16. COUNTBLANK Function: Count empty data.
Compilation of basic Excel functions and examples
1. SUM Function: Add values in cells
The SUM function is one of the fundamental Excel functions that allows you to add up values in selected cells.
Syntax: =SUM(Number1, Number2..)
Example: You need to calculate the total score of a male student in the class across three subjects.
4. Extracting Characters from the Right (RIGHT)
In contrast to the LEFT function, the RIGHT function helps you retrieve the rightmost substring of a character string. Moreover, you can extract more than one character from that string. These are fundamental Excel functions to remember.
Syntax: =RIGHT(text, n)
- Where: - Text: the character string.
- n: The number of characters to extract from the character string. (default value is 1)
Example: If you want to get the last 2 characters from a student's name, you use the syntax like this: =RIGHT(B5,2). The result will return the accurate first 2 characters as shown below.
5. MIN Function: Finding the Minimum Value
The MIN function is designed to find the smallest value in the selected cells or range.
Syntax: =MIN(Number Range)
Example: Find the lowest average score among students in the class.
6. MAX Function: Finding the Maximum Value
7. AVERAGE Function: Calculating the Average Value
8. Trimming Spaces with TRIM
The TRIM function is a basic Excel function that helps eliminate spaces between characters in a character string, leaving only a single space (one space between words). For cells containing character strings with multiple spaces, the TRIM function proves to be genuinely useful.
Syntax: =TRIM(text)
Where: Text is the text containing spaces to be removed. It is 1 in this example.
Example: In the Full Name column, currently, there are many spaces. To remove these spaces, use the syntax =TRIM(B5). The result will be as shown below.
9. CONCATENATE Function: String Concatenation
The CONCATENATE function is used to combine character strings in an Excel spreadsheet. By using CONCATENATE, you can avoid manually piecing together strings.
Syntax: =CONCATENATE(text1, text2, …)
Where: Text1 is the first string (this is a mandatory string)
Text2 …: Optional, up to 255 strings, and the strings must be separated by commas
10. COUNT Function: Counting Numeric Data
11. COUNTA Function: Counting Cells with Data
The COUNTA function is designed to count cells containing data.
Syntax: =COUNTA(Data Range to Count)
12. String Length Count Function
The LEN function is a fundamental Excel function that helps count the length of a character string, including whitespace characters. The LEN function returns the length of the character string.
Syntax: =LEN(text)
Where: Text is the character string.
Example: If you want to count the number of characters in cell B1, use the syntax =LEN(B5). The result will be as shown. To count the following cells, simply hold the mouse at I5 and drag down.
13. Displaying Current System Time with NOW
The NOW function returns the current date and time on the system.
Syntax: =NOW()
Example:
14. SUMIF Function: Summing Cells with Conditions
15. COUNTIF Function: Counting Data with Conditions
16. COUNTBLANK Function: Counting Empty Data
When working with Excel, it's crucial to grasp basic Excel functions to use it efficiently and swiftly. Commonly used Excel functions in basic office tasks, such as Sum, Min, Max, provide significant support in your learning and work.
Here are some fundamental Excel functions. Excel is a convenient and popular office software for calculations. You can also refer to the most common Excel shortcuts for faster operations on the software.
In addition to basic functions in Excel, readers should explore advanced functions such as VLOOKUP, CHOOSE, etc., to enhance their knowledge. Applying advanced functions in Excel can further expedite operations on Excel spreadsheets.
