Excel 2010 Formulas And Functions How To Use Excel Tutorial

How to Easily Select Cells to Use in a Formula Preview 04:07

There are a number of ways to select cells when inserting a formula. This lecture shows you how to select cells by entering them manually, left clicking the mouse, left clicking and dragging the mouse, left clicking the mouse and holding the control key, and using the shift and arrow keys. Being able to select your range of cells quickly and easily allows you to create formulas more efficiently and save lots of time.

The Importance of Absolute vs. Relative Cell References Preview 07:12

Most formulas that you create in Excel reference relative cells by default. However, by creating absolute cell references you can incorporate a fixed cell into your equation while still being able to copy the formula to a bunch of other cells. This will teach you the difference between absolute and relative cell references, and it will show you how to use them in formulas and why it's useful.

Using the AVERAGE and AVERAGEA Functions Preview 04:01

The AVERAGE and AVERAGEA functions in Excel allow you to calculate the average, or mean, of a group of numbers. The AVERAGEA function allows you to calculate the average of a group of cells, even if one or more of the cells is not a number. In this case the AVERAGEA formula treats the non-number cell as a zero. Check out the lecture to learn more about these useful Excel functions.

Using the COUNT and COUNTA Functions Preview 02:40

The COUNT and COUNTA functions in Excel are simple but powerful calculations. They count the number of cells in a range and return that number as an answer. The only difference is that the COUNT function ignores any cells that do not have a number value. On the other hand, the COUNTA function includes ALL cells in the range whether they contain a number or not.

Using the IF Function Preview 04:58

IF statements in Excel are very simple but powerful calculations. They determine whether a value in a cell is true or false, then perform calculations based on the answer.

Using the SUMIF and SUMIFS Functions Preview 04:49

The SUMIF and SUMIFS functions in Excel take addition calculations to the next level. If you want to add up the total sales for all of the sales reps in the West region you would use the SUMIF function. If you want to add up the total sales for all of the sales reps in the West region who also hit their monthly targets you would use the SUMIFS function.

Using the COUNTIF and COUNTIFS Functions Preview 03:15

The COUNTIF and COUNTIFS Excel functions are similar to the SUMIF and SUMIFS functions in that they allow you to do a calculation that takes additional criteria into account.

Using VLOOKUP Preview 11:13

VLOOKUP is one of the most popular and useful functions in Excel. Like the SUM function, it's power lies in it's simplicity. But don't let that simplicity fool you. You have to get a number of elements correct to make it work right. This lecture includes some basic rules to follow for success with the VLOOKUP function as well as a walk through of how to use VLOOKUP in Excel.

Using Left, Right and Mid to Sort Data Preview 04:14

The LEFT, RIGHT and MID functions in Excel are helpful for sorting strings of fixed width data into separate columns. This sorting can make the data easier to see in and Excel spreadsheet as well as easier to use for further sorting or calculations.

Using CONCATENATE to Combine Text Preview 04:36

Many students of Excel have told me that Concatenate is their number one favorite function. Concatenate basically just combines text from different cells into one cell. This can save you a ton of time doing monotonous data entry.

For example, if you have a column of first names and a column of last names, you can quickly and easily combine them into a third column using the Concatenate function.

You can take Bob and Smith in separate columns and combine them to say Bob Smith in a single column.

UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER Preview 04:13

When you're importing data that isn't in the format that you want, UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER can help you quickly and easily correct it.

LEN - Length of Text Preview 03:04

The LEN function in Excel basically just counts the number of  characters in a string of text. LEN is not used on it's own very often,  but when used in conjunction with other functions it can be a huge time  saver.

FIND and SEARCH Preview 03:52

The FIND and SEARCH functions in Excel are very similar to each  other. Both are designed to search for any given character or string of  characters within a given string and return a number indicating where it  begins within that string. The main difference between the two is that  SEARCH is not case sensitive and FIND is case sensitive.

For example, if you want to find the word "West", the SEARCH function  will find it even if you are searching for "west", while the FIND  function will not unless you look for the word "West".

Conclusion Preview 02:17

Thanks for watching Excel 2010 Formulas and Functions. I'll see you in the discussions!

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