{"id":2997,"date":"2019-12-20T19:26:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T19:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2997"},"modified":"2024-05-16T19:30:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:30:54","slug":"what-is-a-function","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/chapter\/what-is-a-function\/","title":{"raw":"What is a Function?","rendered":"What is a Function?"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Define functions in Microsoft Excel<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nA 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.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/e1691288-e01f-42ca-bfe1-d5a5ca277cfe\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nA few general tips to remember about functions and formulas:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Functions begin with an equal sign. Excel will begin suggesting functions as soon as you begin typing the equal sign.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Functions take one or more arguments, with cell references or numbers, enclosed in parentheses.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a function needs more than one argument, enter a comma between the arguments without a space and close the formula inside of parentheses.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<img class=\"alignnone wp-image-3002 size-full\" src=\"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\" alt=\"Excel screenshot of three ways to enter a formula in Excel.\" width=\"512\" height=\"431\" \/> <img class=\"alignnone wp-image-3003 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3008\/2019\/12\/20192514\/Module_8_Statistical_Functions_Formulas_2.png\" alt=\"Excel screenshot of two more ways to identify and enter a formula in Excel.\" width=\"754\" height=\"167\" \/>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c96c6b85-08c9-4604-a67c-30162bde36d6\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThese 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\u2019s get started.","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Define functions in Microsoft Excel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_e1691288-e01f-42ca-bfe1-d5a5ca277cfe\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/e1691288-e01f-42ca-bfe1-d5a5ca277cfe?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_e1691288-e01f-42ca-bfe1-d5a5ca277cfe\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A few general tips to remember about functions and formulas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Functions begin with an equal sign. Excel will begin suggesting functions as soon as you begin typing the equal sign.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Functions take one or more arguments, with cell references or numbers, enclosed in parentheses.\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a function needs more than one argument, enter a comma between the arguments without a space and close the formula inside of parentheses.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3002 size-full\" src=\"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\" alt=\"Excel screenshot of three ways to enter a formula in Excel.\" width=\"512\" height=\"431\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3003 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3008\/2019\/12\/20192514\/Module_8_Statistical_Functions_Formulas_2.png\" alt=\"Excel screenshot of two more ways to identify and enter a formula in Excel.\" width=\"754\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c96c6b85-08c9-4604-a67c-30162bde36d6\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c96c6b85-08c9-4604-a67c-30162bde36d6?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c96c6b85-08c9-4604-a67c-30162bde36d6\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>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\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2997\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>What is a Function?. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Sherri Pendleton. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"What is a Function?\",\"author\":\"Sherri Pendleton\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"251ce209-5e67-4bc1-b0c6-9e88b645c93b, 04344eac-c091-470f-a164-6977adef84ca","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2997","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":2771,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5856,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2997\/revisions\/5856"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/2771"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2997\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-computerapplicationsmgrs-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}