Introduction to Formulas

Introduction to Formulas:
Note: If you're new to Excel, you'll soon find that it's more than just a grid in which you enter numbers in columns or rows. Sure, you can use Excel to find totals for a column or row of numbers, but you can also calculate a mortgage payment, solve math or engineering problems, or find a best-case scenario based on variable numbers that you plug in.

Excel does this by using formulas in cells. A formula performs calculations or other actions on the data in your worksheet. A formula always starts with an equal sign (=), which can be followed by numbers, math operators (like a + or - sign for addition or subtraction), and built-in Excel functions, which can really expand the power of a formula.

For example, the following formula multiplies 2 by 3 and then adds 5 to that result to come up with the answer, 11.
 
=2*3+5
 
Cell address/name: Before you start using functions in Excel sheet, there are some important things to learn about it because functions are predefined for Excel and there are some other requirements while using functions in Excel like cell addresses, when you understand about cell address then only Excel functions will be worth for you. How to get cell address/name for a cell? Don’t worry, it’s easy; a cell name is column name and row number (Ex: column name: A + row number: 4 = Cell address is A4, the cell address is in the column A of fourth row).
 
Here are some additional examples of formulas that you can enter in a worksheet.

• =A1+A2+A3    Adds the values in cells A1, A2, and A3.
• =SUM(A1:A10)    Uses the SUM function to return sum of the values in A1 through A10.
• =TODAY()    Returns the current date.
• =UPPER("hello")     Converts the text "hello" to "HELLO" by using the UPPER function.
• =IF(A1>0)    Uses the IF function to test the cell A1 to determine if it contains a value greater than 0.