If functions are used when we want to specify a criteria to limit our function to. For instance, if we were interested in values above a certain amount we could use =countIf in order to count the number of the values in a range, that are above a certain value. There are multiple different functions that can use IF's. These include:
=SumIF
=CountIF
=averageIF
A sparkline is a small graphic designed to give a quick representation of numerical or statistical information within a piece of text, taking the form of a graph without axes. This is displayed within a single cell and can be used to visualise data when you don't have enough room or it isn't suitable for a full size chart.
Conditional formatting is a feature that has a variety of uses. Mainly surrounding different ways of displaying data corresponding to the value found within the cell or range of data. This can help you visualise the data faster than reading off the values using colour schemes and icon sets to show the quantities or differences between values more effectively than numbers would at a glance.
The fill handle can be used in a variety of ways that may save you time. From repeating sequences or repeating data to repeating a formula over a large area.
The fill handle is the name given to the green dot found on the bottom right corner of the selected cell/s.
Cell references are used in almost all functions and they interact differently with the Auto-fill handle depending on what type of reference you have used:
Find and/or replace is a powerful feature that allows you to search for a text string within your data set. It will show you all of the times that Excel can see the text string in your document, allowing you to be taken to the next word by clicking the 'next' button. If you then wish to replace a text string with your own input, en masse or individually.
This page will cover the 5 basic functions found in the auto-sum drop-down menu:
SUM
AVERAGE
COUNT NUMBERS
MAX
MIN
This page will guide you through using Excel to create basic mathematical operations. This is very similar to creating a function or formula except that we are not using the function's operative such as (=Sum) or (=Average) or any of the other function operative.
If we wanted the sub-total for a given range we can use the function operative (SUM):
=Sum(A1:A10)
Microsoft Excel can wrap text so it appears on multiple lines in a cell. You can format the cell so the text wraps automatically, or enter a manual line break. But this will prevent you from a cell potentially taking up too much room on your worksheet.
When you input data into Excel it is initially a 'data array' and although it is perfectly fine to leave data in this format it is sometimes easier or better to convert it to Table for the following reasons;
