Excel Tutorial to Improve Your Efficiency (2007 Version)

Introduction
My purpose with this Excel tutorial is to illustrate some Excel tips that will dramatically improve
your efficiency. I make no attempt to be as encyclopedic as some of the 800-page Excel manuals
available. I concentrate on common tasks, not every last thing that can be done in Excel. Also, I
presume that you have some Excel knowledge. For example, I assume you know about rows and
columns, values, labels, and formulas, relative and absolute addresses, and other basic Excel
elements. If you know virtually nothing about Excel, you probably ought to work through an
“Excel for Dummies” book and then work through this tutorial.
The style of this tutorial should be easy to follow. Main topics appear in bold black type. Specific
direction headings are in yellow, and these are followed by detailed directions in red. Additional
comments about the directions appear in blue. Then there are “Try it!” exercises in green. These
“Try it!” exercises are a key feature of this tutorial. I have embedded numerous sample Excel
spreadsheets so that you can try out the directions right away—without switching into Excel.
When you double-click on one of these spreadsheets, you launch Excel, and the spreadsheet
“comes alive.” The menus and toolbars even change to those for Excel. By clicking outside one
of these spreadsheets, you’re back in Word.
The easiest way to maneuver around this tutorial is to switch to outline view. To do so, select
Word’s ViewàOutline menu item, which gives you an extra Outlining menu. Select this menu
and then click on the Show Level dropdown. This lets you choose the level of the outline. You’ll
get good results by choosing Level 2. This lets you see all first-level and second-level headings.
Put your cursor on a heading of interest and then switch back to normal view by selecting Word’s
ViewàPrint Layout menu item. (Try it right now. It’s easy!)
Finally, I suggest that you save this file–RIGHT NOW–as MyXLTutorial.docx (or some such
name) and work with the copy. That way, if you mess anything up as you try the exercises, you
can always go back and retrieve the original file (ExcelTutorial.docx).
Have fun!
Differences in Excel 2007
If Excel 2007 is your first exposure to Excel, you’ll love it. If you’re used to Excel 2003 or an
earlier version, however, you’ll have some unlearning to do. There are two big changes in Excel
2007 and a host of smaller changes. The first big change is that worksheets are much bigger. You
used to have about 65,000 rows and 256 columns. Now you have over a million rows and over
16,000 columns. You’ll hardly ever use this much space, but it’s available.
The second big change is the one you’ll notice right away: you no longer have the usual menus
and toolbars. Microsoft has completely reorganized the user interface to provide menus and
ribbons. Each menu (Home, Insert, Page Layout, etc.) has an associated ribbon that is similar to
the old toolbars. For example, if you click on the Formula menu, you get a ribbon with buttons
that are useful for working with formulas. Each ribbon has several groups of buttons. For
example, the Formulas ribbon has one group called Defined Names with buttons for manipulating
range names. There’s only one way to learn these ribbons: practice and experiment. If you’re
used to the old Excel, you’ll undoubtedly curse at the new ones a few times when you can’t find
something, but you can be assured that they are more logically organized than the old versions.
One particular menu item you’ll miss is ToolsàOptions, for changing various options in Excel.
It’s not gone; it’s just in a different place. To get to it, click on the new Office button (in the
upper left corner of the screen) and then the Excel Options button. From there, you can

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experiment with the various options. While you’re at it, note the options along the left when you
click on the Office button. For example, that’s where you find Save As and Print, two obvious
favorites.
You can’t change the new ribbons; they are built in and fixed. However, you can customize the
user interface to some extent. First, Excel gives you a quick access toolbar (QAT) at the top left
of the screen. You can put your favorite buttons on this toolbar so that they’re always visible and
available. The QAT comes with a few favorite buttons, but you can add more. Just click on the
dropdown arrow to the right of the QAT and check any of your favorites (or click on More
Commands to get more buttons). Second, if you don’t mind writing a bit of XML, you can create
new ribbons that have your favorite Excel buttons or even new buttons attached to your own
macros. (This is somewhat advanced, so it won’t be covered in this document.)
With the old menus gone, what about the keyboard shortcuts many of you depend on? As far as I
can tell, they still work, or at least most of them still work. For example, you can still press Ctrl-s
to save a file or Ctrl-p to print a file. However, in this document, where I’ve embedded
spreadsheets, the keyboard shortcuts for Excel won’t work. This is evidently because the
spreadsheets are embedded in a Word document.
One other important change is file extensions. Unless you wrote your own add-ins in earlier
versions of Excel, the only file extension you probably ever saw was .xls. You can still save files
with this extension, but they’ll lose any features new to Excel 2007. To save them and keep new
features, you should save them as .xlsx files. Note that if you do so, people with Excel 2003
won’t be able to open them unless they download and install a free file format converter from
Microsoft. (Google for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to find this free download.) One
other new file extension is .xlsm. If your Excel file has associated VBA macros, then you should
save it as an .xlsm file.

Basic Spreadsheet Tasks

This section illustrates a number of ways to make you more efficient: how to select ranges, how
to copy and paste, how to deal with absolute and relative addresses, how to insert and delete rows
or columns, and a few others. Most Excel users know how to do these things, but they often do
them inefficiently. So even though this material might seem elementary, read on—you might just
pick up a few tricks you weren’t aware of.
Moving to the Top of the Sheet
Often you want to reorient yourself by going back to the “home” position on the worksheet.
To go to the top left of the sheet (cell A1):
Press Ctrl-Home (both keys at once).
Try it!

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Using End-Arrow Key Combinations
To go to the end of a range (top, bottom, left, or right):
Press the End key, then the appropriate arrow key. For example, press End and then right arrow to
go to the right edge of a range.
Try it! Starting at a corner (a bordered cell), move around to the other corners.

The action of an End-arrow combination depends on where you start. It takes you to the last
nonblank cell if you start in a nonblank cell. (If there aren’t any nonblank cells in that direction, it
takes you to the far edge of the sheet.) If you start in a blank cell, it takes you to the first nonblank
cell.
Splitting the Screen
It is often useful to split the screen so that you can see more information.
To split the screen vertically, horizontally, or both:
Click on the narrow “screen splitter” bar just to the right of the bottom scroll bar (for vertical
splitting) or just above the right-hand scroll bar (for horizontal splitting) and drag this to the left
or down.
Splitting gives you two “panes” (or four if you split in both directions). Once you have these
panes, practice scrolling around in any of them, and see how the others react.
Try it! Split the screen either way and then remove the split.

Selecting a Range
Usually in Excel, you select a range and then do something to it (such as enter a formula in it,
format it, delete its contents, and so on). Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to select a
range efficiently. It’s easy if the whole range appears on the screen, but it’s a bit trickier if you

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can’t see the whole range. In the latter case the effect of dragging (the method most users try) can
be frustrating–things scroll by too quickly. Try one of the methods below instead.
To select a range that fits on a screen:
Click on one corner of the range and drag to the opposite corner.
Or:
Click on one corner, hold down the Shift key, and click on the opposite corner.
Try it! Select the range B2:D7.

To select a range doesn’t fit on a screen:

Click on one corner of the range, say, the upper left corner. Then, holding the Shift key down, use
the End-arrow combinations (End and right arrow, then, if necessary, End and down arrow) to get
to the opposite corner.
Or:
Split the screen so that one corner shows in one pane and the opposite corner shows in the other
pane. Click on one corner, hold the Shift key down, and click on the opposite corner.
Try it! Select the range B2:C100 or the range E2:N5. Try both of the methods suggested
above.

Selecting Multiple Ranges

Say you want to format more than one range in a certain way (as currency, for example). The
quickest way is to select all ranges at once and then format them all at once.
To select more than one range:
Select the first range, press the Ctrl key, select the second range, press the Ctrl key, select the
third range, and so on.

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For example, to select the ranges B2:D5 and F2:H5, click on B2, hold down the Shift key and
click on D5 (so now the first range is selected), hold down the Ctrl key and click on F2, and
finally hold down the Shift key and click on H5.
Try it! Select all three numerical ranges shown.

10 13 7 9
1 9 12 7
5 4 1 1
6 12
15 2

13 4 10

Copying and Pasting

Copying and pasting (often formulas) is one of the most frequently done tasks in Excel, and it can
be a real time-waster if done inefficiently. Many people do it as follows. They select the range to
be copied (often in an inefficient manner), then select the EditàCopy menu item, then select the
paste range (again, often inefficiently), and finally select the EditàPaste menu item. There are
much quicker ways to get the job done!
To copy and paste using keyboard shortcuts:
Select the copy range (using one of the efficient selection methods described above), press Ctrl-c
(for copy), select the paste range (again, efficiently), and press Ctrl-v (for paste). (If you practice
pressing Ctrl-c or Ctrl-v with the little finger and index finger of your left hand, it will become
automatic in a short time.)
The copy range will still have a dotted line around it. Press the Esc key to get rid of it.
Try it! Copy the formula in cell C2 down through cell C8 using Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v.

To copy and paste using toolbar buttons:

Proceed as above, but use the copy and paste buttons (in the left section of the Home ribbon)
instead of the Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v key combinations.
Try it! Copy the formula in C2 down through cell C8 using the Copy and Paste buttons.

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Buttons or key combinations? This is a matter of personal taste, but either is quicker than menu
choices!
A frequent task is to enter a formula in one cell and copy it down a row or across a column. There
are several very efficient ways to do this.
To avoid copying and pasting altogether, use Ctrl-Enter:
Starting with the top or left-hand cell, select the range where the results will go. (Use the
selection methods described earlier, especially if this range is a long one.) Type in the formula,
and press Ctrl-Enter instead of Enter.
Try it! Fill up the range C2:C8 with Ctrl-Enter.

Pressing Ctrl-Enter enters what you typed in all of the selected cells (adjusted for relative
addresses), so in general, it can be a real time saver. For example, it can be used to enter the
number 10 in a whole range of cells. Just select the range, type 10, and press Ctrl-Enter.
Try it! Fill up the range B2:D8 with the value 10 by using Ctrl-Enter.

To copy with the drag handle:

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Enter the formula in the top or left-hand cell of the intended range. Place the cursor on the “drag
handle” at the lower right of this cell (the cursor becomes a plus sign), and drag this handle down
or across to copy.
Try it! Copy the formula in C2 down through C8 with the “drag handle”.

To copy by double-clicking on the drag handle:

Enter the formula in the top or left-hand cell of the intended range. Double-click on the drag
handle.
This method uses Excel’s built-in intelligence, but it works only in certain situations. Let’s say
you have numbers in the range A3:B100. You want to enter a formula in cell C3 and copy it
down to cell C100. Because this is a common thing to do, Excel does it for you if you double-
click on the drag handle. It senses the “filled-up” range in column B and guesses that you want
another filled-up range right next to it in column C. If there were no adjacent filled-up range,
double-clicking on the drag handle wouldn’t work.
Try it! Copy the formula in C2 down through C8 by double-clicking the “drag handle.”

Copying and Pasting with the Special/Values Option

Often you have a range of cells that contains formulas, and you would like to replace the formulas
with the values they produce. Usually, you paste these values onto the copy range, that is, you
overwrite the formulas with values. However, you could also select another range for the paste
range.
To copy formulas and paste values:
Select the range with formulas, press Ctrl-c to copy, and select the range where you want to paste
the values (which could be the same as the copy range). Then (because there is no keyboard
equivalent) select the Paste dropdown on the Home ribbon, and select the Paste Values option.
Try it! Copy the range D2:D8 to itself, but paste values.

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You might want to experiment with the other options in the Paste dropdown. For example, if you
have a set of labels entered as a row and you want this same set of labels entered somewhere else
as a column, try copying and pasting with the Transpose option.
Moving (Cutting and Pasting)
Often you would like to move information from one place in the sheet to another.
To move (cut and paste):
Select the range to be cut, press Ctrl-x (for cutting), select the upper left corner of the paste
range, and press Ctrl-v. (The little finger-index finger combination in your left hand is also good
for pressing Ctrl-x.)
As with copying and pasting, ribbon buttons can be used instead of key combinations, but either
is more efficient than selecting menu items. Also, note that you need only select the upper left
cell of the paste range. Excel knows that the shape of the paste range must be the same as the
shape of the cut range.
Try it! Move the range A2:C8 to the range D2:F8. (Watch how relative addresses affect the
eventual formulas in column F.)

Absolute/Relative References
Absolute and references are indicated in formulas by dollar signs or the lack of them, and they
indicate what happens when you copy or move a formula to a range. You typically want some
parts of the formula to stay fixed (absolute) and others to change relative to the cell position. This
is a crucial concept for efficiency in spreadsheet operations, so you should take some time to
understand it thoroughly. Here are two important things to remember: (1) The dollar signs are
relevant only for the purpose of copying or moving; they have no inherent effect on the formula.
For example, the formulas =5*B3 and =5*$B$3 in cell C3, say, produce exactly the same result.
Their difference is relevant only if you want to copy cell C3 to some range. (2) There is never any
need to type the dollar signs. This can be done with the F4 key.

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To make a cell reference absolute or mixed absolute/relative using the F4 key:
Enter a cell reference such as B3 in a formula. Then press the F4 key.
In fact, pressing the F4 key repeatedly cycles through the possibilities: B3 (neither row nor
column fixed), then $B$3 (both column B and row 3 fixed), then B$3 (only row 3 fixed), then
$B3 (only column B fixed), and back again to B3.
Try it! Enter the appropriate formula in cell B7 and copy across to E7. (Scroll to the right
to see the correct answer.)

Try it again! Enter one formula with appropriate absolute/relative addressing in cell C5
that can be copied to C5:F9. (Scroll to the right to see the correct answer.)
Table of revenues for various unit prices and units sold

Units sold
50 100 150 200
Unit price $3.25
$3.50
$3.75
$4.00
$4.25

Showing Formulas in R1C1 Notation

Speaking of relative and absolute addresses in formulas, it’s pretty amazing how
intelligent spreadsheets are. When you copy a formula in cell C1 such as =A1+B1 down,
it automatically changes appropriately: =A2+B2, then =A3+B3, etc. In a sense, these are
all the same formula. Each says to add the two values to the left of the current cell. Excel
allows you to see this equivalence even more clearly by viewing the formulas in a
different format, called R1C1 notation. In this format, each of the formulas in column C
is written as =RC[-2]+RC[-1]. R stands for row, and C stands for column. The fact that
there is nothing next to R means we stay in the same row. The numbers in brackets next
to C mean to go 2 columns to the left and 1 column to the left. (For columns, negative
numbers mean to go to the left, positive to the right. For rows, negative numbers mean to
go up, positive down.)
If there is a number next to R or C that is not in brackets, it indicates an absolute
reference. For example, =R2C[2] placed in cell D5 is equivalent to =F$2 since the row
reference is absolute and the column reference is relative to column D.

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The usual way of expressing formulas, such as =C5+D5, is called A1 format. The new
way discussed here is called R1C1 format. You can easily toggle between them.
To toggle between A1 and R1C1 formats:
Select the Office button, select Excel options, select Formulas, and check or uncheck the
R1C1 reference style option.
Try it! Toggle between A1 and R1C1 reference style in the following spreadsheet,
and for either, examine the formulas inside the border and in the Total row. (Note:
As far as I can tell, you’ll have to actually open Excel to try this one. When you
double-click on the spreadsheet below, the Excel menu appears, but not the Office
button. So you evidently can’t change the Excel options from within Word. I
suppose that makes sense.)
Multiplication table
1 2 3 4
1 1 2 3 4
2 2 4 6 8
3 3 6 9 12
4 4 8 12 16
Total 10 20 30 40

I have read one Excel book that advocates the use of R1C1 notation everywhere,
reasoning that this notation makes more logical sense. Maybe the author has a point, but
the A1 notation is so ingrained in most of us that the transition to R1C1 notation would
probably start a revolt among millions of Excel users!
Inserting and Deleting Rows or Columns
Often you want to insert or delete rows or columns. Note that deleting a row or column is not the
same as clearing the contents of a row or column—making all of its cells blank. Deleting a row or
column means wiping it out completely.
To insert one or more blank rows:
Click on a row number and drag down as many rows as you want to insert. Then click on the
Insert dropdown and select Insert Sheet Rows. (Interestingly, the Insert dropdown is in the Cells
group of the Home ribbon, not on the Insert ribbon.)
The rows you insert are inserted above the first row you selected. For example, if you select rows
8 through 11 and then insert, four blank rows will be inserted between the old rows 7 and 8.
Try it! Insert blank rows for the data for Feb, Apr, and May.

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Columns are inserted in the same way.
Try it! Insert blank columns for sales reps Baker, Miller, and Smith (so that the sales reps
are in alphabetical order from left to right).

Sales rep Allison Jones Taylor

Commission rate 5.4% 6.5% 4.3%
Sales $15,000 $12,000 $17,000
Commission $810 $780 $731

To delete one or more rows:

Click on a row number and drag down as many rows as you want to delete. Then select the Delete
dropdown and select Delete Sheet Rows. Columns are deleted in exactly the same way.
Try it! The company no longer carries products K322 and R543, so get rid of their rows.

Filling a Series
Say you want to fill column A, starting in cell A2, with the values 1, 2, and so on up to 1000.
There is an easy way.
To fill a column range with a series:
Enter the first value in the first cell (1 in cell A2). With the cursor in the starting cell (A2), select
the Fill dropdown and then select the Series option to obtain a dialog box. (The Fill dropdown is
in the Editing group of the Home ribbon.) Change the Rows setting to Columns, make sure the

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Type setting is Linear, make sure 1 is in the Step Value box, enter the final value (1000) in the
Stop Value box, and click on OK.
As you can guess from this dialog box, many other options are possible. Don’t be afraid to
experiment with them.
Try it! The series of days in column A should go from 1 to 25, in column D it should go from
26 to 50.

Summation Button
The SUM function is used so often to sum across rows or columns that a button (the Σ button) is
available to automate the procedure. To illustrate its use, suppose you have a table of numbers in
the range B3:E7. You want the row sums to appear in the range F3:F7, and you want the column
sums to appear in the range B8:E8. It’s easy.
To produce row and column sums with the summation button:
Select the range(s) where you want the sums (F3:F7 and B8:E8–remember how to select multiple
ranges?), and click on the summation button.
Note that if you select multiple cells, you get the sums automatically. If you select a single cell
(such as when you have a single column of numbers to sum), you’ll be shown the sum formula
“for your approval” and you’ll have to press Enter to actually enter it. Why does Excel do it this
way–your guess is as good as mine!
Try it! Use the summation button to fill in the row and column sums.

The summation button is in the Editing group of the Home ribbon. If you want a sum, click
directly on the Σ button. Alternately, you can click on the AutoSum dropdown for other options,
including Average, Max, Min, and others.

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Transposing a Range
Often you set up a spreadsheet and then decide that you would rather have a portion of it
transposed. That is, you would like to “turn it on its side,” so that rows become columns and vice
versa. This is simple with one of Excel’s Paste options.
To transpose a range:
Select a range that you want to transpose and press Ctrl-c to copy it. Then select the upper left
cell of the range where you want the transposed version to go, select the Paste dropdown, and
select the Transpose option.
Make sure there is enough room for the transposed version. For example, if the original range has
3 rows and 5 columns, the transposed version will have 5 rows and 3 columns. If you select cell
D5, say, as the upper left cell for the transposed version, everything in the range D5:F9 will be
overwritten by the transposed version.
Try it! Transpose the range A3:D6 to a range with upper left cell F3.
Sales figures

Jan Feb Mar

North 2300 3200 4500
West 4300 3500 4200
East 5500 6500 6000

Range Names
Range names are extremely useful for making your formulas more understandable. After all,
which formula makes more sense: =B20-B21 or =Revenue-Cost? Efficient use of range names
takes some experience, but here are a few useful tips.
To create a range name:
Select a range that you want to name. Then type the desired range name in the upper left “name
box” on the screen. (This box is just above the column A heading. It usually shows the cell
address, such as E13, where the cursor is.)
You can also select the Formulas menu and use the Define Name option in the Defined Names
group to name a range, but typing the range name in the name box is quicker and more intuitive.
By the way, range names are not case sensitive, so that Revenue, revenue, and REVENUE can be
used interchangeably.
Try it! Name the rectangular range containing the numbers Data.

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 71 31 9 69 5
15 74 46 84 27
14 49 25 38 83
40 43 20 75 83
28 72 30 92 75
41 56 90 89 73
28 81 43 81 61

When you type the range name in the name box, make sure you then press Enter to make the
name “stick.” It’s easy to type the name and then click on some other cell without pressing Enter.
(I’ve done it hundreds of time.) If you do so, you’ll find that the range name was not created.
To delete a range name:
Select the Name Manager in the Defined Names group of the Formulas ribbon. This shows a list
of all range names in your workbook. Click on the one you want to delete, and then click on the
Delete button.
Suppose a range has name Costs and you want to rename it UnitCosts. If you highlight the range,
the name box will show Costs. If you then overwrite this with UnitCosts in the name box, the
range will have two names, Costs and UnitCosts. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but
if you want only a single name, UnitCosts, you will have to delete the Costs name, as described
here.
Try it! The numerical range is currently named Data. Delete this range name and then
rename the range Database.

Suppose you have the labels Revenue, Cost, and Profit in cells A20, A21, and A22, and you
would like the cells B20, B21, and B22 (which will contain the values of revenue, cost, and
profit) to have these range names. Here’s how to do it quickly.
To create range names from adjacent labels:
Select the range consisting of the labels and the cells to be named (A20:B22). Then click on the
Create from Selection button in the Defined Names group of the Formulas ribbon. In the resulting
dialog box, make sure the appropriate option (in this case, Left Column) is checked, and click on
OK.
Excel tries (usually successfully) to guess where the labels are that you want to use as range
names. If it guesses incorrectly, you can always override its guess.
Try it! Name the ranges A3:A8, B3:B8, and so on according to the labels in row 2.

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Sometimes you enter a formula using cell addresses, such as =B20-B21. Later, you name B20 as
Revenue and B21 as Cost. The formula does not change to =Revenue-Cost automatically.
However, it would be nice to make it change (and hence become more readable). In Excel 2003
and previous versions, you could highlight the formula and use the InsertàNameàApply menu
item to change the formula so that it showed range names. However, this option appears to have
been deleted in Excel 2007. You can use the Use in Formula option from the Defined Names
group, but this is basically just a “crutch” to help you redefine your formula. Microsoft evidently
had its reasons for deleting this functionality, but I’m not what they were. Too bad!
To see a list of all range names and check which ranges they apply to:
Click on the down arrow at the right of the name box, and click on any of the range names you
see. That range will then be selected automatically.
Try it! There are five named ranges below. Locate them.

Sometimes it is straightforward to use range names in formulas. For example, if B20 is named
Revenue and B21 is named Cost, then entering the formula =Revenue-Cost in, say, cell B22 is a
natural thing to do. But consider this situation. The range B3:B14 contains revenues for each of
12 months, and its range name is Revenue. Similarly, C3:C14 contains costs, and its range name
is Cost. For each month you want that month’s revenue minus cost in the appropriate cell in
column D. You will get it correct if you select the range D3:D14, type the formula =Revenue-
Cost, and press Ctrl-Enter. If you click on any cell in this range, you’ll see the formula
=Revenue-Cost.
This is pretty amazing. How does Excel know that the formula in D3, for example, is really =B3-
C3? Let’s just say that it’s smart enough to figure this out. If it confuses you, however, you can
always enter =B3-C3 and copy it down. Then you’re safe, but you’ve lost the advantage of range
names!
Try it! Enter the formula for all of D3:D14 using range names. (If you like, calculate profits
again in column E in the usual way, without range names.)

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 Revenue Cost Profit
$1,600 $1,400
$2,000 $1,800
$2,100 $1,800
$2,900 $2,800
$500 $400
$1,700 $1,500
$2,000 $1,900
$2,500 $2,300

To paste a list of all range names on a sheet:

To document your spreadsheet, it is often useful to create a list of all of your range names and
their corresponding cell addresses. This is easy with Paste Names option.
To paste a list of all range names and corresponding addresses, select a cell with plenty of blank
space below it, select the Use in Formula dropdown in the Defined Names group, and click on the
Paste Names option.
Try it! Paste a list of all range names, starting in cell D2.
Revenue $34,000 Range names used:
Cost $22,000
Profit $12,000

Basic Excel Functions

There are many useful functions in Excel. You should become familiar with the ones most useful
to you. For example, financial analysts should learn the financial functions. But here are a few
that everyone should know. (By the way, I capitalize the names of these functions, just for
emphasis. However, they are not case sensitive. You can enter SUM or sum, for example, with
the same result.)
SUM Function
The SUM function is probably the most used Excel function of all. It sums all values in one or
more ranges.
To use the SUM function:
Enter the formula =SUM(range), where range is any range. This sums the numerical values in the
range.
Actually, it is possible to include more than one range in a SUM formula, as long as they are
separated by commas. (This can also be done with the COUNT, COUNTA, AVERAGE, MAX,
and MIN functions discussed below.) For example, =SUM(B5,C10:D12,Revenues) is allowable
(where Revenues is the name for some range). The result is the sum of the numerical values in all
of these ranges combined. Note that if any cell in any of these ranges contains a label rather than
a number, it is ignored in the sum.

Chris Albright Page 16 9/3/2012

Try it! Use the SUM function in cell B10 to calculate the total of all costs.
Table of costs for units produced in one month (along side)
for use in another month (along top)

Feb Mar Apr May

Jan $4,300 $3,100 $3,400 $5,900
Feb $5,500 $6,400 $6,500
Mar $6,800 $6,400
Apr $5,900

Total cost

COUNT, COUNTA Functions

The COUNT function counts all of the cells in a range with numeric values. The COUNTA
functions counts all nonblank cells in a range.
To use the COUNT function:
Enter the formula =COUNT(range), where range is any range. This returns the number of
numeric values in the range.
To use the COUNTA function:
Enter the formula =COUNTA(range), where range is any range. This returns the number of
nonblank cells in the range.
For example, if cells A1, A2, and A3 contain Month, 1, and 2, respectively, then
=COUNT(A1:A3) returns 2, whereas =COUNTA(A1:A3) returns 3.
Try it! Use the COUNT and COUNTA functions to fill in cells E1 and E2. Note that there
are students below the visible portion of the spreadsheet.

AVERAGE Function
The AVERAGE function averages all of the numeric cells in a range.
To use the AVERAGE function:
Enter the formula =AVERAGE(range) where range is any range. This produces the average of
the numeric values in the range.
Note that the AVERAGE function ignores labels and blank cells in the average. So, for example,
if the range C3:C50 includes scores for students on a test, but cells C6 and C32 are blank because
these students haven’t yet taken the test, then =AVERAGE(C3:C50) averages only the scores for

Chris Albright Page 17 9/3/2012

the students who took the test. (It does not automatically average in zeros for the two who didn’t
take the test.)
Try it! Use the AVERAGE function to calculate the averages in cells B1 and B2. (For B2,
you’ll have to replicate the exam scores in column C and make some changes.)

MAX, MIN Functions

The MAX function returns the largest numeric value in a range. Similarly, the MIN function
returns the smallest numeric value in a range.
To use MAX and MIN functions:
Enter the formula =MAX(range) or =MIN(range) where range is any range. These produce the
obvious results: the maximum (or minimum) value in the range.
Try it! Use the MAX and MIN functions to fill in the range B8:C9. For example, you want
the values $2300 and $3600 in cells B8 and C9.

Sales rep Allison Baker Jones Miller Smith Taylor

Jan sales $3,700 $2,400 $2,300 $3,000 $3,800 $3,700
Feb sales $2,600 $2,200 $2,400 $2,800 $3,600 $2,300

Min sales Max sales

Jan
Feb

SUMPRODUCT Function
There are many times when you need to sum products of values in two (or possibly more than
two) similar-sized ranges. Fortunately, there is an Excel function that sums products quickly.
To use the SUMPRODUCT function
Enter the formula =SUMPRODUCT(range1,range2), where range1 and range2 are exactly the
same size. For example, they might be two column ranges with 10 cells each, or they might be
two ranges with 4 rows and 10 columns each. The formula sums the products of the
corresponding values from the two ranges.

Chris Albright Page 18 9/3/2012

There can actually be more than two ranges in the SUMPRODUCT formula, separated by
commas, as long as all of them have exactly the same size. This is not as common as having only
two ranges, but it is sometimes useful
Try it! Sum the products of the two ranges in the following spreadsheet to find the total
shipping cost. Enter the result in cell G1. (Scroll to the right for the answer.) By the way, if
you are tempted to write the formula without the SUMPRODUCT function as the sum of 9
products, as many of my students continue to do, imagine how long your formula would be
if there were 10 plants and 50 cities!
Unit shipping costs City1 City2 City3 Total cost
Plant1 1.25 1.35 1.55
Plant2 1.15 1.45 1.25
Plant3 1.35 1.45 1.15

Units shipped City1 City2 City3

Plant1 155 180 0
Plant2 250 130 185
Plant3 0 210 140

IF Function
IF functions are very useful, and they vary from simple to complex. I’ll provide a few examples.
To enter a basic IF function:
Enter the formula =IF(condition,expression1,expression2), where condition is any condition that
is either true or false, expression1 is the value of the formula if the condition is true, and
expression2 is the value of the formula if the condition is false.
A simple example is =IF(A1<5,10,“NA”). Note that if either of the expressions is a label (as
opposed to a numeric value), it should be enclosed in double quotes.
Try it! Enter appropriate IF formulas in columns C and D. (Scroll to the right to see the
correct answer.)
For each product, if the end inventory is less than or equal to 50 units,
enough units are ordered to bring stock back up to 200; otherwise, no
units of that product are ordered

Product End inventory Order placed (yes or no)? # of units ordered

1 100
2 40
3 20
4 70

Sometimes IF functions are nested. For example, there might be three possibilities, depending on
whether the value in cell A1 is negative, zero, or positive. A nested IF formula can then be used
as follows.
To use nested IF functions:
Enter the formula =IF(condition1,expression1,IF(condition2,expression2,expression3)). If
condition1 is true, the relevant value is expression1. Otherwise, condition2 is checked. If it is
true, the relevant value is expression2. Otherwise, the relevant value is expression3.

Chris Albright Page 19 9/3/2012

An example is =IF(A1<0,10,IF(A1=0,20,30)). Suppose this formula is entered in cell B2. Then if
A1 contains a negative number, B2 contains 10. Otherwise, if A1 contains 0, B2 contains 20.
Otherwise (meaning that A1 must contain a positive value), B2 contains 30.
Try it! Use a nested IF function to fill in the grades in column C. (Scroll to the right to see
the correct answer.)
Each student gets an A (if score is 90 or above), S for satisfactory (if score
if 60 or above but less than 90) or U for unsatisfactory if score is below 60

Student Score Grade

1 70
2 95
3 55
4 80
5 60
6 90

Sometimes more complex conditions (AND/OR conditions) are useful in IF functions. These are
not difficult once you know the syntax.
To use an AND condition in an IF function:
Enter the formula =IF(AND(condition1,condition2),expression1,expression2). This results in
expression1 if both condition1 and condition2 are true. Otherwise, it results in expression2.
Note the syntax. The keyword AND is followed by the conditions, separated by a comma and
enclosed within parentheses. Also, note that more than two conditions could be included in the
AND, all separated by commas.
Try it! Use an IF function with an AND condition to fill in the bordered range. (Scroll to the
right to see the correct answer. Note the double quotes for labels.)
Investor sells stock only if its price has gone up three consecutive days
(including the current day)

Day Price change Sell (yes or no)?

1 Up
2 Down
3 Up
4 Up
5 Up
6 Down

To use an OR condition in an IF function:

Enter the formula =IF(OR(condition1,condition2),expression1,expression2). This results in
expression1 if either condition1 or condition2 is true (or if both are true). Otherwise, it results in
expression2.
Again, more than two conditions could be included in the OR.
Try it! Use an IF function with an OR condition to fill in the bonuses in column F. (Scroll to
the right to see the correct answer.)

Chris Albright Page 20 9/3/2012

 Any student who scores at least 95 on any of the exams gets a bonus
which is 1% of their total score.

Student Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4 Bonus

1 87 83 83 80
2 77 72 74 97
3 80 95 79 75
4 82 87 96 88
5 78 94 81 79
6 75 83 80 72

VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP Functions

Lookup tables are useful when you want to compare a particular value to a set of values, and
depending on where your value falls, assign a given “answer.” For example, you might have a tax
table that shows, for any gross adjusted income, what the corresponding tax is. There are two
versions of lookup tables, vertical (VLOOKUP) and horizontal (HLOOKUP). Since they are
virtually identical except that vertical goes down whereas horizontal goes across, I’ll only discuss
the VLOOKUP function. Besides, VLOOKUP appears to be used much more frequently than
HLOOKUP.
The VLOOKUP function takes three arguments plus an optional fourth argument: (1) the value to
be compared, (2) a lookup table, with the values to be compared against always in the leftmost
column, and (3) the column number of the lookup table where you find the “answer”; and (4)
TRUE or FALSE (which is TRUE by default if omitted). Because the VLOOKUP function is
often copied down a column, it is usually necessary to make the second argument an absolute
reference, and this is accomplished most easily by giving the lookup table a range name such as
LookupTable. (Range names are always treated as absolute references.)
The most common use of a lookup table is when the values in the first column (the comparison
column) are sorted in ascending order. (Then the fourth argument can be omitted.) Let’s say you
want to assign letter grades to students based on a straight scale: below 60, an F: at least 60 but
below 70, a D; at least 70 but below 80, a C; at least 80 but below 90, a B; and 90 or above, an A.
The spreadsheet sample below shows how you would set this up. The comparison column in the
lookup table starts at 0 (the lowest grade possible), then records the cutoff scores 60 through 90.
The lookup table in the range E2:F6 is range-named LookupTable.
The formula in cell C2 is =VLOOKUP(B2,LookupTable,2), and this is copied down column C.
This formula compares the value in B2 (67) to the values in column E and chooses the largest
value less than or equal to it. This is 60. Then because the last argument in the VLOOKUP
function is 2, the score reported in C2 comes from the second column of the lookup table next to
60, namely, D.
Student Score Grade Lookup table
1 67 D 0 F
2 72 C 60 D
3 77 C 70 C
4 70 C 80 B
5 66 D 90 A
6 81 B
7 93 A
8 59 F
9 90 A

Chris Albright Page 21 9/3/2012

To use a VLOOKUP function:
Create a lookup table with at least two columns, where the values in the first column are in
ascending order, and (for best results) give the table range a range name. Then enter the formula
=VLOOKUP(value,lookup table,column #), as described above.
Try it! Enter a lookup table in columns E and F, and VLOOKUP functions in column C.
Assume there is a quantity discount pricing scheme: for orders less than 300 units, the unit
price is $3; for orders of at least 300 units but less than 400, the unit price is $2.50; for
orders of 400 units or more, the unit price is $2. (Scroll to the right to see the correct
answer.)
Order # Units sold Total cost
1 373
2 475
3 459
4 441
5 238
6 349
7 344
8 203

There are times where the first column of the lookup table are not sorted in ascending order. This
is still allowable, but then you need to include the fourth argument with value FALSE in the
VLOOKUP function. In this case, VLOOKUP will look for an exact match and will return an
error if doesn’t find an exact match.
Try it! Use a VLOOKUP function in column C to find the gradepoints for each student.
Note that the grades in column E of the lookup table are in the “natural” order, but they
are not in Excel’s A-Z sort order. Therefore, FALSE must be entered as the fourth
argument in the VLOOKUP function.
Student Grade Gradepoints Grade Gradepoints
Adams B A 4
Davis A-­‐ A-­‐ 3.7
Edwards C+ B+ 3.3
Johnson B-­‐ B 3
Myers B+ B-­‐ 2.7
Smith A C+ 2.3
Thomson C C 2
C-­‐ 1.7

Paste Function (fx) Button

If you haven’t used this button, located just to the left of the formula bar, you should give it a try.
I like to call it the function wizard. It not only lists all of the functions available in Excel (by
category), but it also leads you through the use of them. As an example, suppose you know there
is an Excel function that calculates payments on a loan, but you’re not sure what its name is or
how to use it. You could proceed as follows.
To use the function wizard:

Chris Albright Page 22 9/3/2012

Select a blank cell where you want the function to go. Press the fx button and click on the category
that seems most appropriate (Financial in this case). Scan through the list for a likely candidate
and select it (try PMT). At this point you can get help, or you can press the OK button and enter
the appropriate arguments for the function (interest rate, term, and principal, the latter expressed
as a negative number).
Try it! Use the function wizard to help you determine the function in cell B6. Use the range
names in cells B3 through B5 for improved readability. (Scroll to the right to see the correct
formula.)
Payments for Mr. Jones, who just bought a new car

Amount financed $15,000

Annual interest rate 8.90%
Term (number of months financed) 36
Monthly payment

Data Tables
Data tables, also called what-if tables, allow you to see very quickly how one or more outputs
change as one or two key inputs change. There are two types of data tables: one-way tables and
two-way tables. A one-way table has one input and any number of outputs. A two-way table has
two inputs but only one output. I’ll demonstrate both types.
To illustrate, suppose Mr. Jones buys a new car for $20,000, makes a $5,000 down payment, and
finances the remaining amount over the next 36 months at an 8.5% annual interest rate. There are
at least two outputs that might be of interest: the monthly payment and the total interest paid
through the duration of the loan. These are affected by at least two inputs: the amount of the
down payment and the annual interest rate.
Let’s first look at a simple one-way data table, which illustrates how a single output, monthly
payment, varies as the annual interest rate varies. This is shown in the following spreadsheet.
Price of car $20,000 Data table
Down payment $5,000 Interest rate Monthly payment
Amount financed $15,000 $473.51
Annual interest rate 8.50% 8.00% $470.05
Number of payments 36 8.25% $471.78
8.50% $473.51
Monthly payment $473.51 8.75% $475.25
Total interest paid $2,046.47 9.00% $477.00

To create the above table (which I already did):

Enter a link for the output in cell E3. Because the monthly payment was calculated with the PMT
function in cell B7, simply enter =B7 in cell E3. Then, starting in cell D4, enter any sequence of
interest rates. Select the entire table—the range D3:E8. Next, select the Data menu, and in the
Data Tools group, select Data Table from the What-If Analysis dropdown. Finally, enter B4 as
the column input cell. There is no row input cell, so leave it blank.

Chris Albright Page 23 9/3/2012

It is important to understand what happens when you do this, so read this paragraph several times
until it sinks in. Excel takes each interest rate in column D, substitutes it into the column input
cell you designated (cell B4), recalculates the formula in cell E3 (the one I colored gray for
emphasis) with this new interest rate, and records the answer in the data table. You use a column
input cell because the possible inputs (interest rates) are listed in a column.
It is also possible to capture multiple outputs in a one-way data table. An example appears below,
where the single input is still the interest rate, but there are two outputs: monthly payment and
total interest paid. This table is formed exactly as before except that the table range is now D3:F8.
Price of car $20,000 Data table
Down payment $5,000 Interest Monthly payment Total interest
Amount financed $15,000 $473.51 $2,046.47
Annual interest rate 8.50% 8.00% $470.05 $1,921.64
Number of payments 36 8.25% $471.78 $1,983.98
8.50% $473.51 $2,046.47
Monthly payment $473.51 8.75% $475.25 $2,109.09
Total interest paid $2,046.47 9.00% $477.00 $2,171.86

Try it! Create a one-way data table that shows the monthly payments and the total interest
paid for each term (value in cell B5) from 12 to 48 in increments of 12. (Scroll to the right
for the correct answer.)
Price of car $20,000
Down payment $5,000
Amount financed $15,000
Annual interest rate 8.50%
Number of payments 36

Monthly payment $473.51

Total interest paid $2,046.47

Two-way tables allow you to vary two inputs, one along a row and one along a column, and
capture a single output in the body of the table. The following spreadsheet illustrates this, where
the annual interest rate and the amount of the down payment both vary, and the single output is
the monthly payment.
Price of car $20,000 Data table of monthly payment
Down payment $5,000 $473.51 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000
Amount financed $15,000 8.00% $501.38 $470.05 $438.71
Annual interest rate 8.50% 8.25% $503.23 $471.78 $440.33
Number of payments 36 8.50% $505.08 $473.51 $441.95
8.75% $506.94 $475.25 $443.57
Monthly payment $473.51 9.00% $508.80 $477.00 $445.20
Total interest paid $2,046.47

To create the above table (which I already did for you):

Chris Albright Page 24 9/3/2012

Enter the formula =B7 for the single output in the upper left corner, cell D2, of the data table.
(Again, I colored this cell gray for emphasis.) Enter any sequence of down payments to the right
of this and any sequence of interest rates below this. Next, select the Data menu, and in the Data
Tools group, select Data Table from the What-If Analysis dropdown. Finally, enter B2 as the row
input cell, and enter B4 as the column input cell.
Note that B2 is the row input cell because various down payments are entered in a row (E2:G2).
Similarly, B4 is the column input cell because interest rates are entered in a column. Excel
substitutes each down payment into cell B2, each interest rate into cell B4, calculates the formula
in cell D2, and records the answer (monthly payment) in the body of the table.
Try it! Create a two-way data table that shows the total interest paid for each term from 12
to 48 in increments of 12, and each down payment from $3000 to $5000 in increments of
$1000. Put down payments along the side, terms along the top. (Scroll to the right for the
correct answer.)
Price of car $20,000
Down payment $5,000
Amount financed $15,000
Annual interest rate 8.50%
Number of payments 36

Monthly payment $473.51

Total interest paid $2,046.47

Working with Text

Most people use Excel functions to calculate numbers. However, Excel also provides several very
useful functions for manipulating text. These can be real time savers. This section illustrates
some of the most common ways to manipulate text in Excel.
Parsing Text with Text Functions
Suppose, for example, that someone has given you a spreadsheet such as the one below. Each cell
in column A has a person’s name: last name, then a comma and a space, and then first name.
Your job is to parse (that is, separate) these names as indicated for the name in cells B1 and C1.
That is, column B should have all of the first names and column C should have all of the last
names. Unfortunately, imagine that there are 5000 names in column A. What do you do? If you
just start typing, you’ll be at for a long time (and you’ll undoubtedly make mistakes).
Jones, Bob Bob Jones
Davis, Stephen
Thompson, Andy
Wilson, John
Fredericks, Kathy
Williams, Karen
Smith, Tom
Jennings, Peter
Benson, Ted
Samson, Jason

Fortunately, there is a much better way. Logically, we observe that every name has a comma and
a space. The first name is what comes after the comma and space, and the last name is what

Chris Albright Page 25 9/3/2012

comes before it. For the name Jones, Bob, there are 10 characters (including the comma and
space, and the comma and space are characters 6 and 7. So the first name is the rightmost 3
characters and the last name is the leftmost 5 characters. In any parsing operation, this is the first
and probably the most crucial step: find a pattern.
FIND, LEN, RIGHT, LEFT, and MID Functions
To do the parsing, we use Excel’s FIND, LEN, RIGHT, LEFT, and MID functions. (Actually, we
don’t need the MID function for this particular example, but it is necessary for many similar
examples.)
To use the FIND function:
The FIND function has the syntax =FIND(subtext,text,n), where text is the original text, subtext is
a piece of text to be found in text, and n is an optional integer argument. This function returns the
position of the first occurrence of subtext, if any. If there are no occurrences, it returns an error. If
the argument n is missing, it starts the search at character 1; otherwise, it starts the search at
character n.
Here are a few examples:
• The formula =FIND(“,”,“Jones, Bob”) returns 6, because the comma is the sixth
character in Jones, Bob.
• The formula =FIND(“nes”,“Jones, Bob”) returns 3, because the subtext “nes” begins in
the third character of Jones, Bob.
• The formula =FIND(“o”,“Jones, Bob”) returns 2, because the first occurrence of the letter
“o” occurs in the second character of Jones, Bob. However, the formula =FIND(“o”,
“Jones,Bob”,3) returns 9, because the first occurrence of “o” starting from character 3 is
character 9.
• The formula =FIND(“t”,“Jones, Bob”) returns an error, because the letter “t” isn’t found
in Jones, Bob.
To use the LEN function:
Enter the formula =LEN(text). This returns the number of characters in text.
To use the RIGHT function:
Enter the formula =RIGHT(text, n), where n is an integer. This returns the rightmost n characters
in text. (If n is greater than LEN(text), it return the entire text.)
To use the LEFT function:
Enter the formula =LEFT(text, n), where n is an integer. This returns the leftmost n characters in
text. (If n is greater than LEN(text), it return the entire text.)
To use the MID function:
Enter the formula =MID(text,s,n), where s is an integer and n is an optional integer. If n is
missing, this returns all of text from character s on. (s stands for start.) Otherwise, it returns n
characters of text, starting with character s.
Here are some examples:
• The function =MID(“Freddie”,5) returns “die”.
• The function =MID(“Freddie”,5,2) returns “di”.

Chris Albright Page 26 9/3/2012

 • The function =MID(“Jones, Bob”,FIND(“,”,“Jones, Bob”)+2) returns “Bob”. (See why?)
Between these five functions—FIND, LEN, RIGHT, LEFT, and MID—you can do some
powerful text manipulation in Excel, and this can save hours of tedious typing. You will be the
hero at your office!
We now solve the above name-parsing problem in a series of steps, as indicated below. In cell
B1, we use LEN to get the length of the text in cell A1. In cell C1, we use FIND to find the
position of the comma. In cell D1, we add 1 to find the position of the space after the comma. We
then find the first name with the RIGHT function, using the rightmost (10-7) characters.
Similarly, we find the last name with the LEFT function, using the leftmost (6-1) characters. The
beauty of this method is that we have to do it only once, in row 1. Then we can copy all of the
formulas down for the rest of the names, even if there are 5000 of them! (Try it below. Copy the
formulas down.)
Jones, Bob 10 6 7 Bob Jones
Davis, Stephen
Thompson, Andy
Wilson, John
Fredericks, Kathy
Williams, Karen
Smith, Tom
Jennings, Peter
Benson, Ted
Samson, Jason

Try it! This is a bit more difficult than the name-parsing exercise above. Now each name is
a first name, then a middle initial and a period, and then a last name. The goal is to have
three columns with the first name, the middle initial (no period), and the last name. (Scroll
to the right for a possible solution. This solution finds each piece of the name in a single
formula. You might prefer to break it up into several formulas.)
Bob E. Jones
Stephen C. Davis
Andy T. Thompson
John F. Wilson
Kathy C. Fredericks
Karen D. Williams
Tom T. Smith
Peter F. Jennings
Ted R. Benson
Jason E. Samson

Concatenating Text
The opposite of parsing text is concatenating text. To parse text, we start with a long piece of text
and separate it into pieces. To concatenate, we start with two or more pieces of text and “string
them together.” For example, we might parse “Bob Jones” into “Bob” and “Jones”. In the other
direction, we might concatenate “Bob” and “Jones” into “Bob Jones”. The key to concatenating
in Excel is the ampersand symbol, &.
To concatenate the text in cells A1 and B1, for example, enter the formula =A1&B1 in cell C1.
Literal text can also be included, such as =A1&“, ”&B1. In this case, if A1 contains “Jones” and
B1 contains “Bob”, then C1 will contain “Jones, Bob”. This concatenates the last name, a literal
comma and space, and the first name.

Chris Albright Page 27 9/3/2012

Try it! Concatenate the first names, middle initials, and last names in columns A, B, and C
so that full names of the form Jones, Bob E. appear in column D.
Bob E Jones
Stephen C Davis
Andy T Thompson
John F Wilson
Kathy C Fredericks
Karen D Williams
Tom T Smith
Peter F Jennings
Ted R Benson
Jason E Samson

Working with Dates

We tend to take dates and times for granted, but they appear in many, if not most, real-world
business spreadsheets. They are actually quite complex to work with, and a complete treatment of
dates and times could fill a long chapter of a book. I can’t hope to cover all of the intricacies of
Excel-based dates and times in this tutorial, but I will illustrate some of the most useful methods
for working with them.
How Dates Are Stored
The first thing to realize is that a date-time value that appears in a cell as something like
3/14/2004 4:30 PM is really stored as a number. Excel refers to this number as the serial value.
The serial value corresponding to this particular date-time happens to be 38060.688. The value to
the left of the decimal is the number of days since a “base” date (January 1, 1900), and the
decimal part indicates the fraction of time through the day, starting right after midnight. In this
example 4:30 PM is 68.8% of the way from midnight to the next midnight. If the decimal part is
omitted, then it is assumed to be midnight. In this case, you usually format the value so that only
the date, not the time, appears.
If you happen to know the numbering system for dates (that is, you somehow know that 38060
corresponds to 3/14/2004), you could enter the number 38060 in a cell and then format it to look
like a date. Usually, however, you enter a date like 3/14/2004 in a cell. In fact, if you enter the
date in one of several formats Excel recognizes (including 3/14/2004, March 14, 2004, 3-14-04,
and a few others), Excel will know that it is a date, but underneath the hood, it will store the value
as 38060.
The same goes for date-times, such as 3/14/2004 4:30 PM, or just times, such as 4:30 PM. If you
enter either of these in a format that Excel recognizes as a date-time or just a time, Excel will
recognize that these as date-times or times, but it will store them as numbers (68030.688 or
0.688).
By the way, if you enter a date-time in a format that Excel doesn’t recognize, you’re entirely out
of luck. It will simply be stored as a label, with no inherent “date-time” meaning. And Excel can
be fussy. For example, it doesn’t understand 3/14/2004 4:30PM, simply because there is no space
between 4:30 and PM! (I wish I were kidding, but I’m not.) On the other hand, Excel is smart
about dates. It will recognize that 9/31/1999 and 2/29/2003 are not dates—regardless of how they
are formatted.
Try it! The following spreadsheet includes some date-times, dates (no times specified), and
times (no dates specified), formatted in several allowable ways. Format these as numbers

Chris Albright Page 28 9/3/2012

with 3 decimals to see the serial values. Then reformat them as date-times (in formats you
can choose).
3/14/04 1:30 PM
12/31/1901
3:50
12:00 PM
29-Feb-96
9/24/46 14:45

How Excel Deals with the Y2K Problem

Do you remember the Y2K problem that worried everyone in late 1999? The problem was that a
large number of dates, in all kinds of systems, listed 2-digit years, such as 85 instead of 1985.
How would systems know whether 05 means 1905 or 2005? Fortunately, the predicted disaster
didn’t happen, but there is still a Y2K problem because of the ambiguity it can create. Excel
handles it (at least for now) by interpreting a 2-digit year less than 30 as being in the 21st century,
and all others as being in the 20th century. For example, it interprets 3/14/17 as March 14, 2017
and 5/20/72 as May 20, 1972. Of course, the easiest way to avoid the ambiguity is to use 4-digit
years whenever you enter dates. This is the main lesson of Y2K!
Try it! In the spreadsheet above, enter a date such as 3/14/29 (the last two digits less than
30). Then enter another date such as 5/20/30 (the last two digits greater than or equal to 30).
Watch how Excel transforms the year automatically. Do you see how this could be a
problem if you really meant 3/14/29 to be the birthday of a person born in 1929?
NOW, TODAY Functions
Excel has two useful functions for entering the current date, or the current date and time,
automatically, TODAY and NOW.
To use the TODAY function:
Enter the formula =TODAY() in any blank cell. (The blank parentheses are necessary.) It returns
the current date. If you open this spreadsheet tomorrow, it will list tomorrow’s date, that is, it will
update each day.
To use the NOW function:
Enter the formula =NOW() in any blank cell. (Again, the blank parentheses are necessary.) It
returns the current date and time.
Try it! Enter the TODAY and NOW functions in column B of the following spreadsheet.
Then format result of NOW as time only—no date. After you’ve worked a few other
exercises below, come back to this spreadsheet and see whether the time has changed. (You
might have to force a recalculation to see the change. You can do this easily by pressing the
F9 key.)

Chris Albright Page 29 9/3/2012

 Today's date
Current time

YEAR, MONTH, DAY, WEEKDAY Functions

If a cell contains a date, it is easy to strip off the year, month, day, or even weekday with the
YEAR, MONTH, DAY, and WEEKDAY functions. In all of the following examples, datecell
refers to a cell that contains a date.
To use the YEAR function:
Enter the formula =YEAR(datecell). This returns a 4-digit year such as 1993.
To use the MONTH function:
Enter the formula =MONTH(datecell). This returns a month from 1 (January) to 12 (December).
To use the DAY function:
Enter the formula =DAY(datecell). This returns the day of the month, from 1 to the number of
days in the month.
To use the WEEKDAY function:
Enter the formula =WEEKDAY(datecell). This returns a number from 1 to 7, where 1 refers to
Sunday, 2 to Monday, and so on. If you want to get the name of the day, such as Thursday, use a
VLOOKUP function, as indicated in the exercise below.
Try it! For each date in column A, return the year, month, month name, day, weekday, and
weekday name in columns B–G. For the month and weekday names, use the lookup tables
given. (Scroll to the right to see them.) Do you recognize these “infamous” dates? Try one
more: your own birthdate.
Date Year Month Month name Day Weekday Weekday name
9/11/2001
1/28/1986
11/22/1963
8/6/1945
12/7/1941
4/14/1912

DATEDIF Function
Because dates are stored as numbers, it is possible to perform arithmetic on them. One particular
arithmetic operation makes sense: subtraction. If you subtract one date from another, you find the
number of days between them. You can do this by simple subtraction of cells, or you can get
more control with the DATEDIF function. If you use simple subtraction, you automatically get

Chris Albright Page 30 9/3/2012

the difference in days. For example, the formula =A1-A2, where A1 contains 11/25/2004 and A2
contains 11/20/2004, gives 5. The DATEDIF function provides more options. (Evidently,
DATEDIF has been in Excel for years, but its documentation in online help has been sporadic.
See the interesting article at http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datedif.htm.)
To use the DATEDIF function:
Enter the formula =DATEDIF(earlierdate,laterdate,interval), where interval can be “y”, “m”,
“d”, or a few other options not covered here. If interval is “y” (quotes required), this returns the
number of years between the two dates. Similarly, if interval is “m” or “d”, it returns the number
of months or number of days between the two dates.
Try it! Use simple subtraction of cells to find the number of days between the following two
dates. Then use DATEDIF with the three options described above to get the number of
days, months, and years between the two dates. (Note: You’ll have to reformat the answer
in cell B6 as a number. Excel wants to format it as a date for some odd reason. Scroll to the
right for the answers.)
Dates of last two physical exams

First exam 4/5/1999

Next exam 7/15/2003

Days (subtraction)
Days (DATEDIF)
Months (DATEDIF)
Years (DATEDIF)

DATE, DATEVALUE Functions

The last two date functions I’ll mention are DATE and DATEVALUE. The DATE function takes
a date, such as 3/14/2004, and return the serial value, in this case 68030. I see no obvious uses for
this function. (After all, you can see the serial value if you want by formatting the date cell as a
number. Besides, you probably have little interest in the actual number anyway.) I’ve mentioned
it simply because you might see it in online help and think it’s important.
The DATEVALUE function, on the other hand, can be a real life-saver. It takes a date stored as
text and returns the corresponding serial value, which you could then format as a date. Why is this
important? Suppose you have a lot of data stored in some type of legacy system in your business,
and you are somehow able to “dump” it into Excel. The chances are that all dates will be
imported as text. That is, a cell value will look something like 5/20/2001, but Excel won’t
recognize it as a date. Without the DATEVALUE function, you would have retype all of the
dates! However, DATEVALUE saves you this mind-numbing work.
To use the DATEVALUE function:
Enter the formula =DATEVALUE(datetext), where datetext refers to a date stored as text. Then
format the result as a date.
Try it! Create dates in column B corresponding to the text values in column A that happen
to look like dates. (I typed an apostrophe in front of each value in column A. That’s why
they are interpreted as text, not as dates.)

Chris Albright Page 31 9/3/2012

 Dates imported from a legacy system

Nov 25, 1997

Nov 26, 1997
Nov 29, 1997
Dec 1, 1997
Dec 3, 1997

Statistical Functions
There are many statistical functions built into Excel. I’ve already discussed the simplest statistical
function, the AVERAGE function. (Statisticians often call this the mean, or the sample mean, but
it’s simply the average of a set of numbers.) In this section I’ll discuss a few other statistical
functions.
MEDIAN, MODE Functions
The median is the “middle” value in a set of numbers, in the sense that half are above it and half
are below it. More precisely, when the values are sorted in increasing order, it is the middle value
if there are an odd number of values, and it is the average of the two middle values if there are an
even number of values. Fortunately, Excel takes care of the details with the MEDIAN function.
To use the MEDIAN function:
Enter the formula =MEDIAN(datarange), where datarange is any range that contains a set of
values.
Note that if datarange contains labels or blank cells, these are ignored when calculating the
median. This is true for the other statistical function listed below. (Of course, it is also true for the
AVERAGE function.)
Try it! Find the median of the numbers in column A (which extend well below row 10). Is it
the same as the average? Why or why not? (Scroll to the right to see the answers.)

33 Median:
3 Average:
0 Mode:
1
4
14
5
41
3
5

The mode is the most likely value, the one that occurs most often. If no value occurs more than
once or twice, then the mode isn’t very useful. However, if a clothing retailer records the size of
each dress sold, then the mode is quite useful. It is the best-selling dress size. Excel’s MODE
function calculates the mode.
To use the MODE function:

Chris Albright Page 32 9/3/2012

Enter the formula =MODE(datarange), where datarange is any range that contains a set of
values.
Try it! Calculate the mode of the set of values in the above spreadsheet. How many times
does this value occur? (Again, answers are to the right.)
PERCENTILE, QUARTILE Functions
We often like to rank the values in a data set in some way. For example, if you can the SAT exam
to get into college, you essentially learn your ranking by a percentile. If you are at the 85th
percentile, you know that 85% of all people scored lower than you, and only 15% scored higher.
Excel has two useful functions for finding this type of information: PERCENTILE and
QUARTILE.
The QUARTILE function is probably the easiest to understand. Imagine that you have 1000
scores. You sort them from low to high and then divide them into 4 sets of 250 scores each,
where the first set contains the smallest scores, the second set contains the next smallest scores,
and so on. The first, second, and third quartiles are the breakpoints between these sets. For
example, 25% of the scores are below the first quartile, and 75% are above it. (The second
quartile is the median.)
To use the QUARTILE function:
Enter the formula =QUARTILE(datarange,k), where k is 1, 2, or 3. For example, if you enter 3
for k, you get the third quartile.
Try it! Find all three quartiles for the following data set (which extends well below row 10).
Enter the formulas for these quartiles, labeled Q1, Q2, and Q3, in column D. (Scroll to the
right to see the answers.)
86.23 Quartiles Percentiles
89.69 Q1 P01
76.12 Q2 P05
129.72 Q3 P10
82.41 P25
106.6 P50
80.99 P75
73.26 P90
112.7 P95
46.21 P99

The PERCENTILE function takes any percentage (expressed as a decimal number) and returns
the value such that the given percentage of all values is below this value. For example, if we use
the percentage 10% (0.10) and the PERCENTILE function returns 45, then we know that 10% of
all values in the data set are below 45 and 90% are above it.
To use the PERCENTILE function:
Enter the formula =PERCENTILE(datarange,pct), where pct is any percentage expressed as a
decimal, such as 0.10 for 10%.
Try it! Find the requested percentiles in the above spreadsheet, and place your formulas in
column G. For example, P10 indicates the 10th percentile. Do you see the relationship
between the quartiles and certain percentiles? (Again, answers to the right.)
Note that the QUARTILE and PERCENTILE functions are typically used on data sets with a
large number of observations. If they are used on a very small data set, you might be surprised at
the results. In fact, you might even disagree with them. For example, if the data set has the 5

Chris Albright Page 33 9/3/2012

values 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50, Excel’s PERCENTILE function indicates that the 10th percentile is
14. This is certainly not a very intuitive answer, and you might disagree with it, but we might ask
why someone would want the 10th percentile of a 5-value data set in the first place!
RANK, LARGE, SMALL Functions
If we simply want to rank a set of values from 1 to N, where N is the number of values, Excel
offers the RANK function. We can either rank them from highest to lowest or vice versa. Of
course, an alternative is to sort the numbers. If for any reason we don’t want to sort, then we can
use the RANK function.
To use the RANK function:
Enter the formula =RANK(value,datarange, order), where value is a single value in the
datarange, and order is an optional argument. If order is missing (or 0), rank 1 corresponds to the
largest value; if order is 1 (or any other nonzero value), rank 1 corresponds to the smallest value.
Typically, we start with a data set in a column. Then we use the RANK function to rank the first
value and copy it down (with datarange absolute) to rank all of the others. If two or more values
are tied, they share a rank.
Try it! Rank the values in A1:A10 from largest to smallest in column B. Then rank them
from smallest to largest in column C. How does RANK deal with the tied 55’s? (Scroll to the
right for answers.)
55
66
76
34
55
68
75
44
38
58

The LARGE and SMALL functions are less well-known Excel functions, but they can be useful.
Let’s say we have a data set with 250 values and we want the 10 largest values. Then we can find
these with the LARGE function, using arguments 1 through 10. Similarly, we can use the
SMALL function to find the 10 smallest values.
To use the LARGE function:
Enter the formula =LARGE(datarange,k), where k is any integer from 1 to the number of data
values. This returns the kth largest value.
To use the SMALL function:
Enter the formula =SMALL(datarange,k), where k is any integer from 1 to the number of data
values. This returns the kth smallest value.
Typically, we would enter a sequence of values of k in some column, enter the LARGE or
SMALL formula for the first of them, and then copy down.
Try it! For the data set in column A, which extends well below row 10, find the 10 largest
values and 10 smallest values in columns D and E. Use the values of k in column C. (Scroll
to the right for the answers.)

Chris Albright Page 34 9/3/2012

 679.02 1
1208.42 2
1635.72 3
729.63 4
1036.08 5
716.62 6
972.92 7
1175.68 8
1271.38 9
1048.93 10

STDEV, VAR Functions

Excel has a number of other statistical functions, including those for measuring the amount of
variability in a set of numbers. The most widely used measures of variability are variance and
standard deviation, and Excel implements these with the VAR and STDEV functions. (These
functions calculate the sample variance and standard deviation. There are similar functions,
VARP and STDEVP, for calculating the population variance and standard deviation. For large
data sets—over 100 values, say—the sample and population measures are practically the same.)
The variance is essentially the average of the squared deviations from the average, and the
standard deviation is the square root of the variance. Each measures variability, but standard
deviation is easier to understand because it is expressed in the same units as the data—dollars, for
example. Besides, many data sets have the property that about 68% of the data are within 1
standard deviation of the average, about 95% are within 2 standard deviations of the average, and
virtually all of the data are within 3 standard deviations of the average.
To use the VAR function:
Enter the formula =VAR(datarange).
This is equivalent to =(STDEV(datarange))^2, the square of the standard deviation
To use the STDEV function:
Enter the formula =STDEV(datarange).
This is equivalent to =SQRT(VAR(datarange)), the square root of the variance.
Try it! Find the average, variance, and standard deviation of the data in column A. Then
use COUNTIF to find the percentage of values that are within 1 standard deviation of the
average. Is it about 68%? (Scroll to the right to see the answers.)
1034.44 Average
877.35 Variance
794.42 Standard deviation
828.45
765.9
1088.95
786.05
1523.02
920.48
777.23

Chris Albright Page 35 9/3/2012

Financial Functions
Excel has a wide assortment of financial functions that are used by thousands of financial analysts
every day. I’ll illustrate the most common of these. If you’re going to be a financial analyst, you
should become familiar with the others!
PMT Function
The PMT function is usually used to find the monthly payment for a car loan or a home mortgage
loan. The inputs are typically an annual interest rate, a term (number of months financed), and the
amount borrowed (the principal). The PMT function finds the amount you have to pay each
month of the term. Part of this payment is principal and part is interest. At the end of the term,
you will have paid just enough to pay off the entire loan.
To use the PMT function:
Enter the formula =PMT(interestrate,term,principal). For technical reasons, if you want PMT to
return a positive value, you should enter the principal as a negative number. The interest rate
argument should be the monthly rate (assuming you’re paying monthly), which is the annual rate
divided by 12.
Try it! Suppose you take out a $30,000 loan for a new car when the annual interest rate is
6.75% and the term of the loan is 36 months. Calculate your monthly payment in cell B4.
Then use a data table (the perfect place for one!) to see how your monthly payment varies
for terms of 24, 36, 48, or 60 months. (Scroll to the right to see the answers.)
Principal $30,000 Data table for payment versus term
Annual interest 6.75%
Term 36
Payment

NPV, XNPV Functions

Much of the theory of finance is about the time value of money. Basically, a dollar earned in the
future is less valuable than a dollar earned today because the dollar earned today can earn interest.
To account for this, we discount future inflows or outflows to get their present values now. If we
have a future stream of inflows and/or outflows, then the sum of all of their present values is
called the net present value, usually abbreviated NPV. If this stream is incurred at regular time
intervals—at the end of each year, say—then we can use Excel’s handy NPV function to calculate
the NPV of the stream.
To use the NPV function:
Enter the formula =NPV(rate,cashstream). Here, rate is the discount rate, which is essentially the
rate the company believes it can make on its money, and cashstream is a stream of cash inflows
or outflows that occur at the ends of successive periods, starting at the end of period 1.
Note that if there is a cash inflow or outflow right away, at the beginning of period 1, it should be
entered outside the NPV function. The reason is that it doesn’t need to be discounted.

Chris Albright Page 36 9/3/2012

Try it! Assume a company pays $100,000 at the beginning of year 1 to get into an
investment. It then receives the cash inflows at the ends of years 1 through 5 shown below.
What is the NPV of this investment (inflows minus outflows) with the given discount rate?
Does the NPV increase or decrease as the discount rate increases? Why? (Scroll down to see
the answer.)
Discount rate 12%
Initial payment $100,000

Cash inflows at ends of years

Year 1 2 3 4 5
Inflow $20,000 $35,000 $50,000 $45,000 $35,000

NPV

If a company incurs cash inflows or outflows at irregular times, such as January 15, then May 30,
then July 1, and so on, the NPV function cannot be used. You could go back to your finance book
to see how to discount future payments directly, but there is an easier way, using the little-known
XNPV function. This function is actually part of the Analysis ToolPak that ships with Excel.
However, you might not have it loaded. To check, click on the Office button, then Excel Options,
then Add-Ins, and then Go. If the Analysis ToolPak item isn’t checked, check it. Then you can
use the XNPV function.
To use the XNPV function:
Enter the formula =XNPV(discountrate,cashvalues,dates), where discountrate is the same as with
NPV and cashvalues and dates are a stream of pairs of cash values and the dates when they are
incurred.
Typically, the first cash value will be an outflow and the rest will be inflows. In this case, the
initial outflow (investment) should be included in the XNPV function, and the NPV will be
discounted back to the date of this initial payment. This payment should be entered as a negative
number.
Try it! First make sure the Analysis ToolPak is loaded. Then find the net present value of
the stream of cash inflows shown below, where the first is really a payment at the beginning
of 2005. (Scroll down to see the answer.)
Discount rate 12%

Stream of cash flows

Date 1-Jan-05 25-May-05 15-Sep-05 15-Jan-06 30-Jun-06
Cash ($85,000) $22,500 $31,000 $65,500 $55,000

NPV

IRR Function
Companies often have investment opportunities where they pay initially and then get returns in
the future. When discussing NPV, I illustrated in the “Try it!” exercise that the NPV of such an
investment decreases as the discount rate increases. In fact, for large enough discount rates, the

Chris Albright Page 37 9/3/2012

NPV will typically become negative, meaning that the future returns are not enough to offset the
initial cost. The discount rate at which NPV changes from positive to negative is called the
internal rate of return, or IRR. Specifically, the IRR is the discount rate at which NPV equals 0.
Companies are interested in IRR for the following reason. They typically have a hurdle rate that
they use to discount potential investments. If the NPV of an investment is positive, discounted at
the hurdle rate, it is worth pursuing. If it is negative, it is not worth pursuing. Stated equivalently,
the investment is worth pursuing only if its IRR is greater than the company’s hurdle rate.
Fortunately, Excel has an IRR function that calculates an investment’s IRR—a tough calculation.
As with the NPV function, we assume the investment is structured so that there is an initial cash
payment at the beginning of year 1 and then regular cash returns at the ends of years 1, 2, and so
on.
To use the IRR function:
Enter the formula =IRR(cashstream,rateguess), where cashstream is a stream of cash flows,
where the first (the initial payment) should be negative, and rateguess is an initial guess for the
IRR.
This seems strange. Why should you have to guess at the answer? It is because Excel calculates
the IRR iteratively, starting with your guess. Your actual guess shouldn’t make any difference in
the final answer except in unusual cases.
Try it! Find the IRR for the following investment, using an initial guess of 15%. What does
this IRR say about the attractiveness of the investment? (Scroll down to see the answer.)
Cash flows (initial value is a payment)
($100,000) $35,000 $45,000 $40,000 $25,000 $10,000

IRR

Lookup and Reference Functions

I have heard an Excel expert make the claim that the VLOOKUP function, discussed earlier, is
the most useful Excel function of all. Whether or not you believe this claim, the VLOOKUP and
HLOOKUP functions are just two of some very useful reference functions in Excel’s arsenal. If
you click on the fx button for online help on Excel functions, you will see a Lookup and
Reference category of functions that includes VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and several others. I will
illustrate a few of these others here. Although they are arguably not as useful as VLOOKUP, they
can definitely come in handy in certain situations.
INDEX Function
The INDEX function is useful for finding the value in a particular cell of a rectangular range. You
access this value by the index of the cell you want. Specifically, you specify a row index and a
column index. For example, if the range has 10 rows and 20 columns, the index 4,8 indicates row
4 and column 8 of the range.
To use the INDEX function:

Chris Albright Page 38 9/3/2012

Enter the formula =INDEX(range,r_index,c_index), where r_index is an integer (for row) and
c_index is an integer (for column).
For example, the formula =INDEX(D11:F20,4,2) refers to the value in cell E14, the cell in the
fourth row and second column of the range.
If range is a single-column range, then the c_index argument can be omitted. In that case,
=INDEX(range,r_index) returns the value in row r_index of the range. For example, the formula
=INDEX(A11:A20,3) refers to the value in cell A13, the third cell in the range. Similarly, if
range is a single-row range, only c_index needs to be included. For example, the formula
=INDEX(B10:E10,3) refers to the value in cell D10, the third cell in the range.
Try it! Find the unit shipping cost from Plant2 to City3 with a formula in cell B6. Then
enter a formula in cell B10 that finds the unit shipping cost from the plant to the city
specified in cells B8 and B9. This formula should respond appropriately to whatever plant
and city indexes are entered in cells B8 and B9. (Scroll to the right for the answers.)

Unit shipping costs City1 City2 City3

Plant1 1.25 1.35 1.55
Plant2 1.15 1.45 1.25
Plant3 1.35 1.45 1.15

Unit shipping from Plant2 to City3

Plant 1
City 2
Unit shipping cost

MATCH Function
The MATCH function is handy for finding a cell in a range that matches a given value. It is often
used in the following situation. Suppose you have decision variable such as order quantity that
needs to chosen so as to maximize some profit. You enter some formulas that link order quantity
to the profit. Then you create a data table that finds the profit for a number of possible order
quantities. The MATCH function lets you locate the cell in the data table with the smallest profit.
To use the MATCH function:
Enter the formula =MATCH(value,range,FALSE). This returns the index of the cell in range that
matches value. For example, if the match occurs in the third cell of the range, this returns 3.
The last argument, FALSE, indicates that we want an exact match. (Actually, FALSE can be
replaced by 0 with the same effect.) If there is no exact match, the formula returns an error. The
MATCH function can also look for an inexact match by using third argument TRUE. I’ll let you
look this up in online help.
The following spreadsheet indicates how MATCH can be used in conjunction with INDEX. You
can imagine that a profit model has led to the table shown, where each order quantity listed leads
to the corresponding profit. For this small example, it is obvious that the largest expected profit is
$5,640, which corresponds to an order quantity of 300. However, if inputs (not shown) that drive
the profit model change, the best order quantity and the corresponding profit could change. We
want formulas in cells B9 and B10 to show and the best profit and best order quantity regardless
of where they appear in the table.

Chris Albright Page 39 9/3/2012

 Table of profit versus order quantity
Order quantity Profit
200 $5,325
250 $5,430
300 $5,640
350 $5,565
400 $5,235

Best profit $5,640

Best order quantity 300

The formula in cell B10 is =INDEX(A3:A7,MATCH(B9,B3:B7,0)). The whole purpose of the

MATCH function here is to provide the row index for the INDEX function. That is, we know the
best order quantity is one of the values in the range A3:A7, and we need to know which one. So
we find a match for the maximum value in B3:B7 to the values in B3:B7. In this case, the
maximum is the third profit, so the formula is equivalent to =INDEX(A3:A7,3).
Try it! The table below shows the profit for each order quantity and each unit stockout cost
(along the top). Enter formulas in the range B9:E9 to find the best order quantity for each
unit stockout cost. (Scroll down to see the answer.)
Profit for various order quantities (column A) and unit stockout costs (row 3)
$2 $3 $4 $5
200 $5,235 $5,175 $5,025 $4,935
250 $5,465 $5,285 $5,190 $5,085
300 $5,355 $5,325 $5,265 $5,100
350 $5,215 $5,195 $5,130 $5,125
400 $5,145 $5,085 $5,015 $5,005

Best order quantities

OFFSET function
The OFFSET function allows you to reference a range (or single cell) relative to another cell. It is
hard to appreciate unless you see some examples, so I will present two below.
To use the OFFSET function:
Enter the formula =OFFSET(cell,r_offset,c_offset,height,width). Here, r_offset and c_offset are
integers that can be positive, negative, or zero, and height and width are optional positive
integers. If either height and width are missing, they default to 1. This formula returns a reference
to a range that has height rows and width columns. To find its upper left cell, start at cell, move
r_offset rows down (if positive) or up (if negative), and move c_offset columns to the right (if
positive) or the left (if negative).
For example the formula =OFFSET(A1,2,3,4,1) returns a reference to the range D3:D6. It is a
range with 4 rows and 1 column, and its upper left cell, D3, is offset from cell A1 by going 2
rows down and 3 columns to the right. As another example, the formula =OFFSET(F4,0,-3)
refers to a single cell (because the last two arguments are missing), and this single cell is 3
columns to the left of F4, namely, C4.
A good example of the OFFSET function appears in the spreadsheet below. Our company sells to
a retailer, and the retailer pays a certain number of months later, as indicated by the payment
delay (in months) in cell B1. The sales occur as indicated in row 4, but the receipts from the
retailer occur 2 months later, as indicated in row 5.

Chris Albright Page 40 9/3/2012

 Payment delay 2

Month Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Sales 3200 4600 5500 2500 3300 4200 2900 4500 2750
Receipts 4600 5500 2500 3300 4200 2900

Without the OFFSET function, we could simply put links in the Receipts row that point to sales 2
months earlier. For example, the formula for receipts in January would be =C4. But what if the
retailer decides to delay payments by 3 months instead of 2? Then we would need to fix the links
in the Receipts row. However, a clever use of OFFSET avoids this updating of links. We use the
formula =OFFSET(E4,0,-$B$1) in cell E5 for January and then copy it across row 5 for the other
months. This formula says to start in the January sales cell and go a certain number of cells to the
left (because of the minus sign), where this number is specified in cell B1. To see how it works,
try changing the value in cell B1 to 3 or 1. (What would go wrong if you changed this delay to 4
months? How would you fix it?)
Try it! Suppose that a manufacturing company buys raw materials from a supplier. If the
cost in any month is $x, the company pays 40% of this cost 1 month from now and the other
60% 2 months from now. Use the OFFSET function to calculate the payments made in
January through August, based on the costs through July. These calculated payments
should change automatically if you change the inputs in cells B1:B2 and D1:D2. For
example, make sure your formulas react correctly if you enter 2 and 3 in cells D1 and D2.
(Scroll down to see the answer.)
Percent paid 40% when: 1 month from now
60% 2 months from now

Month Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Cost $1,950 $2,900 $4,150 $2,500 $3,350 $2,850
Payment

Another great use of the OFFSET function is to create a dynamic range name, one that expands or
contracts depending on the number of data values in a range. Consider the following spreadsheet,
where monthly sales values are entered in column B, and the total of all sales values is calculated
in cell E1. Every month, an extra sales value and its month label are appended to the list in
columns A and B. We can make the formula in cell E1 automatically adjust to the appended
values by using a dynamic range name.

Chris Albright Page 41 9/3/2012

 Month Sales Total $17,030
Jan-05 $2,450
Feb-05 $3,140
Mar-05 $3,250
Apr-05 $4,510
May-05 $3,680

To do this, I selected the Define Name dropdown from the Defined Names group in the Formulas
ribbon. In the Name box at the top of the resulting dialog box, I entered Sales as the range name.
In the Refers To box at the bottom, I entered the formula =OFFSET(B1,1,0,COUNT(B:B),1).
Then I clicked on OK. Finally, I entered the formula =SUM(Sales) in cell E1. Note that
COUNT(B:B) refers to the count of all numeric cells in column B. So this OFFSET function
refers to a range that starts 1 cell down from cell B1 and has as many rows as there are numeric
values in column B. To see how it adjusts, enter a sales value for June in cell B7 and watch how
the total changes automatically.
Note that COUNT(B:B) counts all of the numeric values in column B, so if there were some other
numbers down below sales, they could mess up the logic in the OFFSET function. For example,
suppose there were a numeric value in cell B100. Then, given the data above, COUNT(B:B)
would return 6, so at that point, the Sales range name would refer to the range B2:B7, that is, 6
cells starting with B2. The moral is that if you want to use dynamic range names, it’s best not to
include “junk” in the affected columns or rows.
Try it! The following spreadsheet has sales by month and by salesperson. We want to sum
sales over all months and salespeople in cell B2. Create a dynamic range name that updates
when new months are added and when salesperson columns are added or deleted. Then use
this range name to sum sales in cell B2. (Scroll across to see answer.)
Total sales
Smith Jones Wilson Donalds
Jan-05 $6,700 $7,400 $5,800 $9,000
Feb-05 $5,800 $8,900 $5,500 $7,900
Mar-05 $5,000 $7,900 $5,900 $8,300
Apr-05 $6,700 $5,800 $6,000 $9,700
May-05 $9,400 $7,800 $6,700 $8,400
Jun-05 $6,200 $5,800 $9,400 $8,500
Jul-05 $8,700 $5,300 $6,900 $7,500

A great use for dynamic range names is with pivot tables. Suppose you want to base a pivot table
on a data set that is likely to expand (or even contract) as time goes on. You can create a dynamic
range name such as MyData for the data set. Then when the pivot table wizard asks for the data
range, enter MyData. If your data set expands or contracts in the future, all you need to do is click
on the Refresh pivot table button (!) to update the pivot table with the newest data. If you show
this trick to your colleagues at work, you’ll be a hero!

Chris Albright Page 42 9/3/2012