Learning Outcomes
- Define functions in Microsoft Excel
A function is a preexisting formula in Excel that does calculations based on specific values. In previous modules, you learned a few Excel functions: COUNTIF, IF, and SUM. Excel offers hundreds of functions from broadly used to highly specialized. For now, we will focus on financial, logical and look-up functions and formulas.
Practice Question
A few general tips to remember about functions and formulas:
- Functions begin with an equal sign. Excel will begin suggesting functions as soon as you begin typing the equal sign.
- Functions take one or more arguments, with cell references or numbers, enclosed in parentheses.
- When a function needs more than one argument, enter a comma between the arguments without a space and close the formula inside of parentheses.
- There are multiple ways to enter functions in Excel; type in the formula bar under the ribbon (1), clicking on the fx button by the formula bar (2), select a cell and type = (3), select the Formulas tab Insert Function button (4) or select a specific function based on a category in the Formulas tab (5).
![Excel screenshot of three ways to enter a formula in Excel.](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images/wp-content/uploads/sites/3008/2019/12/20192510/Module_8_Statistical_Functions_Formula_Entry_1.png)
![Excel screenshot of two more ways to identify and enter a formula in Excel.](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images/wp-content/uploads/sites/3008/2019/12/20192514/Module_8_Statistical_Functions_Formulas_2.png)
Practice Question
These next functions and formulas build out your skills in Excel and assist you with business, science, statistics and many other types of data analysis. Let’s get started.