1. Spring 2013 CS 103 Computer Science – Business Problems Lecture 11: Functions and Formulas
in Excel
Instructor: Zhe He
Department of Computer Science
New Jersey Institute of Technology
9/13/2019

2. Creating Basic Formulas
A formula is a series of instructions that you place in a cell in order to perform some kind of calculation.
Every formula must begin with the equal sign (=).
= 1 + 1
You type in the question, click enter, Excel will tell you the answer!

3. Arithmetic Operators

4. Precedence 1. Parentheses 2. Percent 3. Exponents
4. Division and Multiplication
5. Addition and Subtraction
= * 2 ^ 3 – 1
= * 2 ^ (3 – 1)

5. Cell References Calculate the sum of two cells = A1 + A2
AutoFill the formula!

6. Exercise Download Llama_Caloric_Intake.xlsx
Insert a formula in cell E2 to calculate how much the caloric intake is per body weight.
AutoFill the formula to the end of the list.
Format the data in Column E to keep 4 decimal places.
Add a title to Column E.

7. Excel calculates the result of a formula every time you open a spreadsheet or change the data a formula uses.

8. Exercise Download StudentGrades1.xlsx
Calculate the final mark for each student. All data should be in percentage.

9. Functions To use a function, start by entering the function name.
= SUM( cell range you want to add up )
calculates the total for a group of cells.
AutoComplete

10. Cell Ranges Comma (,) Colon(:) Space ( ) separates more than one cell
e.g., A1, B7, H9
Colon(:)
separates the top-left and bottom-right corners of a block of cells
e.g., A1:A5, A2:B3
Space ( )
intersection operator
e.g., A1:A3 A1:B10

11. Cell Ranges (cont.) A:A 2:2 includes all the cells in column A
includes all the cells in row 2

12. SUM() You can combine different ways of range selection.
= SUM(A2:A12, B5, 429, 350)

13. AVERAGE() = AVERAGE( cell range )
ignores all empty cells or text values

14. The Formulas Tab
AutoSum
Math & Trig

15. Formula Errors = A1/A2 Try leaving A2 blank
Error code: begins with the number sign (#) and ends with an exclamation point (!)

16. Logical Operators

17. IF() IF (condition, yes_value, no_value)
= IF (order is less than 5000, original listed price, discounted price)
How do we translate this in Excel?
= IF(A2<5000, B2, B2*0.9)

18. Exercise Download First Quarter Sales and Bonus.xlsx
Calculate the over target sales.
If the over target sales is greater than 0, then the salesman gets 5% commission (based on the over target sales).
Calculate the total salary.

19. Exercise Download Fruit Purchase.xlsx
Count the occurrences of each fruit.

20. Absolute Cell References
Relative references
What if you have a cell that you want to use in multiple calculations?
e.g., currency conversion ratio
Absolute cell reference
Add the $ character twice: in front of the column and in front of the row
e.g., $B$12

21. Exercise
Download StudentGrades2.xlsx

22. AND()
AND() accepts two (or more) conditions, and then returns true if all of them are true.
If any condition is false, AND() returns false.
e.g., the new commission rules (5% rate) came into effect after the year 2010.
= IF( AND(E6>0, F6>2010), E6*5%, 0)

23. Exercise Download StudentGrades3.xlsx
The student passes the course only if he(she) passes both of the tests (having a score of at least 60).
Use conditional formatting to highlight the failed ones in yellow.

24. OR()
accepts two (or more) conditions, and then returns true if any one of them is true.
OR() returns false only if all conditions are false.
= IF (OR(condition 1, condition 2), [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

25. Exercise Download again Fruit Purchases.xlsx
Insert one column named “citrus” between apples and grapes.
Fill the column with 1 and 0.
Count the total.

26. NOT() NOT() accepts a condition and reverse it.
= IF ( NOT(B2>0), , )

27. MEDIAN() Median value: the number that falls in the middle.
1, 2, 5, 7, 10
If you have an even amount of numbers, Excel averages the two middle numbers to generate the median.
1, 2, 4, 7

28. MAX() and MIN()
pick the largest or smallest value of a series of cells.
MAX(range)
MIN(range)
ignore any nonnumeric content.

29. LARGE() and SMALL() What if you want to pick the top 3?
LARGE(range, position)
SMALL(range, position)
e.g.,
LARGE(A2: A12, 2)
SMALL(A2: A12, 1)

30. Exercise Modify StudentGrades2.xlsx
Add the following statistics at the bottom of the table
Total
Average
Median
Highest Score
Second Highest Score
Third Highest Score
Lowest Score

31. ABS()
gives you the absolute value of a number.
= ABS (-3)
Use IF()?

32. ROUND()
rounds a numeric value to whatever level of precision you choose.
ROUND(number_to_round, number_of_digits)
= ROUND(3.987, 2)
= ROUND(A2, -2)
rounds 1 through 4 down
rounds 5 through 9 up

33. RAND()
gives you a random fractional number that is less than 1, but greater than or equal to 0.
= RAND()
= RAND() * 100
Generate a random whole number from 1 to 10?

34. COUNT(), COUNTA() and COUNTBLANK()
COUNT() counts the number of cells that have numeric input.
=COUNT(range)
COUNTA() counts cells with any kind of content.
COUNTBLANK() counts the number of empty cells.
How do you count cells with text?

35. COUNTIF() Counts only the cells you specify COUNTIF(range, criteria)
= COUNTIF(C1:C20, “>500”)
= COUNTIF(D1:D20, “=Travel”)
= COUNTIF (D1:D20, “=” & A2)

36. VLOOKUP() Finds a specific row in a large table by
Scanning the values in a single column from top to bottom
Retrieving other information from the same row
Download VLookupExample.xlsx
What is the name and price of the product with ID of 3?

37. VLOOKUP() VLOOKUP(lookup_value, range, column_index_number, FALSE)
lookup_value: what you are seeking
range: from the column that contains the lookup_value
column_index_number: position of the column which contains the data you want to retrieve
FALSE: exact match

38. Summary COUNTIF() counts only the cells you specify.
=COUNTIF(range, criteria)
VLOOKUP() finds a specific row and retrieves other information from the same row
VLOOKUP(search_for, range, column_number)