Cell Function Differences in Computers

Microsoft Excel has cells that make up the fields for your spreadsheets. Each cell can have a different function for calculating or other types of spreadsheet data manipulation. Excel has several cell functions to choose from, but it depends on what you want to accomplish. Excel has several, useful functions for beginner users.

Date Functions

Date functions are useful when you want to stamp a date and time on your spreadsheet. You can add, subtract and even retrieve the current date using date functions. The "Now()" function returns the current system date and time and prints it in the cell. "Day()," "Month()" and "Year()" return the respective day, month and year of the current date. "Yearfrac()" returns the number of days between a start and end date.

Math Functions

Math functions are the add, subtract, divide or multiply calculations you do in your spreadsheets. You add using the plus sign, subtract using the dash, divide using the forward slash and multiply using the asterisk. Trigonometry functions are also available in cell functions. Trigonometry functions include "cos()," "sin()" and "tan()."

Text Functions

The text functions for your Excel cells are used to format cells, or you can use them to lookup other fields in the spreadsheet and use the values to print to the current cell. For instance, the "dollar()" function changes text to a dollar notation. The "lower()" function converts all text to lower case. "Upper()" returns all text to capital letters.

Logical Functions

Logical functions are used to evaluate two cells and print the result to the current cell. For instance, the "and" function evaluates two cells. If both of the results are true, then the current cell prints "True." The "or" function is similar to "and," but only one expression must be true for the current cell to print "true."

References

• Microsoft: List of Worksheet Functions (by category)