Project Report

On
FUNCTIONS IN SPREADSHEET

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the

Degree of MBA

Under the Guidance of

Mrs. Akansha Sharma

Project Submitted by:

Brijesh Kumar Shukla
MBA-1ST Semester
Roll No.: _____________
Session: 2023-2024

RAMESHWARAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT,

LUCKNOW
(Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical
University, Lucknow)
1
S.N CONTENT PAGES
O
1 Table of Content 2
2 Acknowledgement 3
3 Declaration 4
4 Certificate by Institute 5
5 Preface 6
6 Introduction 7
7 The Basic of excel Formula 8-9
8 Functions: Study & Description 9-13
9 Elements of MS Excel Formulas 13-14
10 Excel Formula Types 14-15
11 Basic Functions of Excel 15-27
12 Best Practices of Writing Excel formulas 27-28
13 Operators in Excel formulas 28-30
14 Conclusion 31

Acknowledgement
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I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my Mentor Mrs.
Akansha Sharma, who gave the golden opportunity to this wonderful project on
the topic and also helped me in completing my project.
I came to know about so many new things and I really thankful to them.
Secondly, I would like to thank my all Institute faculty members and my friends,
who helped me a lot to complete my project within limited time.

Brijesh K. Shukla

DECLARATION
3
I Brijesh Kumar Shukla pursuing MBA 1st Semester from RAMESHWARAM
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, Lucknow in the
session 2023-2024. I hereby declare that this Mini project report titled
“FUNCTIONS IN SPREADSHEET” is the outcome of my own efforts under the
guidance of Mrs. Akansha Sharma (Faculty). The entire project is my original
creation. In case of any discrepancy, I will be solely responsible for it and institute
has the rights to cancel my project.

Date: Brijesh K. Shukla

Place:

CERTIFICATE
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This is to certify that Mr. Brijesh Kumar Shukla, MBA (2023-2025 batch) a
student of RAMESHWARAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND
MANAGEMENT, Lucknow, has undertaken the Project on “FUNCTIONS IN
SPREADSHEET”.
The project has been Carried out by the student in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of MBA, under my guidance and supervision.

I am satisfied with the work of Mr. Brijesh Kumar Shukla.

Date:

Faculty Name: Mrs. Akansha Sharma

(Signature)

PREFACE
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The main objective of any MBA student is to get much of the practical knowledge
as possible. Being able to have a practical knowledge by developing a project as
lifetime experience. As practical knowledge is as important as theoretical
knowledge. I am thankful of having a project.

Through the development of this project, I had a great experience in studying

various strategies that can be applied in any business activity. This project was the
stepping stone of my carrier.

I am very pleased to present this project. Proper care has been taken while
organizing the project so that it is to comprehend.

6
 Introduction

Spreadsheets usually contain several supplied functions, such as arithmetic operations (for
example, summations, averages, and so forth), trigonometric functions, statistical functions, and
so forth. In addition, there is often a provision for user-defined functions. In Microsoft Excel,
these functions are defined using Visual Basic for Applications in the supplied Visual Basic
editor, and such functions are automatically accessible on the worksheet. Also, programs can be
written that pull information from the worksheet, perform some calculations, and report the
results back to the worksheet. In the figure, the name sq is user-assigned, and the function sq is
introduced using the Visual Basic editor supplied with Excel. Name Manager displays the
spreadsheet definitions of named variables x & y.

Use of user-defined function sq(x) in Microsoft Excel.

Being primarily designed as a spreadsheet program, Microsoft Excel is extremely powerful and
versatile when it comes to calculating numbers or solving math and engineering problems. It
enables you to total or average a column of numbers in the blink of an eye. Apart from that, you
can compute a compound interest and weighted average, get the optimal budget for your
advertising campaign, minimize the shipment costs or make the optimal work schedule for your
employees. All this is done by entering formulas in cells.

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The basics of Excel function/formulas

Before providing the basic Excel formulas list, let's define the key terms just to make sure we are
on the same page. So, what do we call an Excel formula and Excel function?

 Formula is an expression that calculates values in a cell or in a range of cells.

For example, =A2+A2+A3+A4 is a formula that adds up the values in cells A2 through
A4.

 Function is a predefined formula already available in Excel. Functions perform specific

calculations in a particular order based on the specified values, called arguments, or
parameters.

For example, instead of specifying each value to be summed like in the above formula, you can
use the SUM function to add up a range of cells: =SUM(A2:A4)

You can find all available Excel functions in the Function Library on the Formulas tab:

There exist 400+ functions in Excel, and the number is growing by version to version. Of course,
it's next to impossible to memorize all of them, and you actually don't need to.

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The Function Wizard will help you find the function best suited for a particular task, while
the Excel Formula Intelligence will prompt the function's syntax and arguments as soon as you
type the function's name preceded by an equal sign in a cell:

Clicking the function's name will turn it into a blue hyperlink, which will open the Help topic for
that function.

Tip. You don't necessarily have to type a function name in all caps, Microsoft Excel will
automatically capitalize it once you finish typing the formula and press the Enter key to complete
it.

Functions

Excel has many premade formulas, called functions.

Functions are typed by = and the functions name.

For example =SUM

Once you have typed the function name you need to apply it to a range.

For example =SUM(A1:A5)

The range is always inside of parentheses.

Function Description

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=AND Returns TRUE or FALSE based on two or more conditions

=AVERAGE Calculates the average (arithmetic mean)

=AVERAGEIF Calculates the average of a range based on a TRUE or FALSE condition

=AVERAGEIFS Calculates the average of a range based on one or more TRUE/FALSE

conditions

=CONCAT Links together the content of multiple cells

=COUNT Counts cells with numbers in a range

=COUNTA Counts all cells in a range that has values, both numbers and letters

=COUNTBLAN Counts blank cells in a range

K

=COUNTIF Counts cells as specified

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=COUNTIFS Counts cells in a range based on one or more TRUE or FALSE condition

=IF Returns values based on a TRUE or FALSE condition

=IFS Returns values based on one or more TRUE or FALSE conditions

=LEFT Returns values from the left side of a cell

=LOWER Reformats content to lowercase

=MAX Returns the highest value in a range

=MEDIAN Returns the middle value in the data

=MIN Returns the lowest value in a range

=MODE Finds the number seen most times. The function always returns a single
number

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=NPV The NPV function is used to calculate the Net Present Value (NPV)

=OR Returns TRUE or FALSE based on two or more conditions

=RAND Generates a random number

=RIGHT Returns values from the right side of a cell

=STDEV.P Calculates the Standard Deviation (Std) for the entire population

=STDEV.S Calculates the Standard Deviation (Std) for a sample

=SUM Adds together numbers in a range

=SUMIF Calculates the sum of values in a range based on a TRUE or FALSE

condition

=SUMIFS Calculates the sum of a range based on one or more TRUE or FALSE
condition

=TRIM Removes irregular spacing, leaving one space between each value

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 =VLOOKUP Allows vertical searches for values in a table

=XOR Returns TRUE or FALSE based on two or more conditions

Elements of Microsoft Excel formulas

When you make a formula in Excel, you can use different elements to supply the source data to
the formula and indicate what operators should be performed on those data. Depending on the
formula type that you create, it can include any or all of the following parts:

 Constants - numbers or text values that you enter directly in a formula, like =2*3.
 Cell references - reference to a cell containing the value you want to use in your Excel
formula, e.g.

=SUM(A1, A2, B5).

To refer to data in two or more contiguous cells, use a range reference like A1:A5. For
example, to sum values in all cell between A1 and A5, inclusive, use this formula:

=SUM(A1:A5).

 Names - defined name for a cell range, constant, table, or function, for
example =SUM(my_name).
 Functions - predefined formulas in Excel that perform calculations using the values
supplied in their arguments.
 Operators - special symbols that specify the type of operation or calculation to be
performed.
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Excel formula types

Formulas that you create in your Excel spreadsheets can be simple or complex:

 Simple Excel formulas perform just one mathematical operation, for

example =10*5 or =SUM(A1:A10)
 Complex (advanced) Excel formulas include more than one calculation, for
example =10*5+20 or =SUM(A1:A10)/2

Further on in this tutorial, you will find the detailed steps for making both types of Excel
spreadsheet formulas.

How to create formulas in Excel

As already mentioned, any Excel formula starts with the equal sign (=). So, whatever formula
you are going to write, begin by typing = either in the destination cell or in the Excel formula
bar. And now, let's have a closer look at how you can make different formulas in Excel.

How to create simple formulas in Excel

Although simple Excel formulas perform just one calculation, they can do this in many different
ways. You can supply the source data as constants, cell references, or defined names, and
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perform calculations by using mathematical operators or Excel functions. For detailed steps,
please see the following resources:

 Make a simple Excel formula by using constants and operators

 Write formulas using cell references
 Create an Excel formula by using defined names
 Make Excel formulas by using functions

How to create advanced formulas in Excel

When you have some experience with simple Excel formulas, you may want to perform several
calculations within a single formula. And the following examples show how you can do this.

Creating complex formulas with constants and mathematic operators

For a complex Excel formula to calculate correctly, certain operations must be performed before
others. The default order of operations in Excel formulas is this:

 Mathematical operations enclosed in parenthesis

 Power of (exponential calculations)
 Multiplication and division, whichever comes first in a formula
 Addition and subtraction, whichever comes first in a formula

Basic functions of Excel:

What follows below is a list of 10 simple yet really helpful functions that are a necessary skill for
everyone who wishes to turn from an Excel novice to an Excel professional.

SUM

The first Excel function you should be familiar with is the one that performs the basic arithmetic
operation of addition:
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SUM(number1, [number2], …)

n the syntax of all Excel functions, an argument enclosed in [square brackets] is optional, other
arguments are required. Meaning, your Sum formula should include at least 1 number, reference
to a cell or a range of cells. For example:

=SUM(B2:B6) - adds up values in cells B2 through B6.

=SUM(B2, B6) - adds up values in cells B2 and B6.

If necessary, you can perform other calculations within a single formula, for example, add up
values in cells B2 through B6, and then divide the sum by 5:

=SUM(B2:B6)/5

To sum with conditions, use the SUMIF function: in the 1st argument, you enter the range of
cells to be tested against the criteria (A2:A6), in the 2nd argument - the criteria itself (D2), and in
the last argument - the cells to sum (B2:B6):

=SUMIF(A2:A6, D2, B2:B6)

In your Excel worksheets, the formulas may look something similar to this:

In MS Excel, formulas are equations that perform various calculations in your worksheets.
Though Microsoft has introduced a handful of new functions over the years, the concept of Excel
spreadsheet formulas is the same in all versions of Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, Excel
2007 and lower.

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  All Excel formulas begin with an equal sign (=).
 After the equal symbol, you enter either a calculation or function. For example, to add
up values in cells B1 through B5, you can either:
o Type the entire equation: =B1+B2+B3+B4+B5
o Use the SUM function: =SUM(B1:B5)
 Press the Enter key to complete the formula. Done!

Tip. The fastest way to sum a column or row of numbers is to select a cell next to the numbers
you want to sum (the cell immediately below the last value in the column or to the right of the
last number in the row), and click the AutoSum button on the Home tab, in the Formats group.
Excel will insert a SUM formula for you automatically.

Useful resources:

 Excel Sum formula examples - formulas to total a column, rows, only filtered (visible)
cells, or sum across sheets.
 Excel AutoSum - the fastest way to sum a column or row of numbers.
 SUMIF in Excel - formula examples to conditionally sum cells.
 SUMIFS in Excel - formula examples to sum cells based on multiple criteria.

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AVERAGE

The Excel AVERAGE function does exactly what its name suggests, i.e. finds an average, or
arithmetic mean, of numbers. Its syntax is similar to SUM's:

AVERAGE(number1, [number2], …)

Having a closer look at the formula from the previous section (=SUM(B2:B6)/5), what does it
actually do? Sums values in cells B2 through B6, and then divides the result by 5. And what do
you call adding up a group of numbers and then dividing the sum by the count of those numbers?
Yep, an average!

The Excel AVERAGE function performs these calculations behind the scenes. So, instead of
dividing sum by count, you can simply put this formula in a cell:

=AVERAGE(B2:B6)

To average cells based on condition, use the following AVERAGEIF formula, where A2:A6 is
the criteria range, D3 is he criteria, and B2:B6 are the cells to average:

=AVERAGEIF(A2:A6, D3, B2:B6)

Useful resources:

 Excel AVERAGE - average cells with numbers.

 Excel AVERAGEA - find an average of cells with any data (numbers, Boolean and text
values).

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  Excel AVERAGEIF - average cells based on one criterion.
 Excel AVERAGEIFS - average cells based on multiple criteria.
 How to calculate weighted average in Excel
 How to find moving average in Excel

MAX & MIN

The MAX and MIN formulas in Excel get the largest and smallest value in a set of numbers,
respectively. For our sample data set, the formulas will be as simple as:

=MAX(B2:B6)

=MIN(B2:B6)

Useful resources:

 MAX function - find the highest value.

 MAX IF formula - get the highest number with conditions.
 MAXIFS function - get the largest value based on multiple criteria.
 MIN function - return the smallest value in a data set.
 MINIFS function - find the smallest number based on one or several conditions.

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COUNT & COUNTA

If you are curious to know how many cells in a given range contain numeric values (numbers or
dates), don't waste your time counting them by hand. The Excel COUNT function will bring you
the count in a heartbeat:

COUNT(value1, [value2], …)

While the COUNT function deals only with those cells that contain numbers, the COUNTA
function counts all cells that are not blank, whether they contain numbers, dates, times, text,
logical values of TRUE and FALSE, errors or empty text strings (""):

COUNTA (value1, [value2], …)

For example, to find out how many cells in column B contain numbers, use this formula:

=COUNT(B:B)

To count all non-empty cells in column B, go with this one:

=COUNTA(B:B)

In both formulas, you use the so-called "whole column reference" (B:B) that refers to all the cells
within column B.

The following screenshot shows the difference: while COUNT processes only numbers,
COUNTA outputs the total number of non-blank cells in column B, including the the text value
in the column header.

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Useful resources:

 Excel COUNT function - a quick way to count cells with numbers.

 Excel COUNTA function - count cells with any values (non-empty cells).
 Excel COUNTIF function - count cells that meet one condition.
 Excel COUNTIFS function - count cells with several criteria.

IF

Judging by the number of IF-related comments on our blog, it's the most popular function in
Excel. In simple terms, you use an IF formula to ask Excel to test a certain condition and return
one value or perform one calculation if the condition is met, and another value or calculation if
the condition is not met:

IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

For example, the following IF statement checks if the order is completed (i.e. there is a value in
column C) or not. To test if a cell is not blank, you use the "not equal to" operator ( <>) in
combination with an empty string (""). As the result, if cell C2 is not empty, the formula returns
"Yes", otherwise "No":

=IF(C2<>"", "Yes", "No")

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Useful resources:

 IF function in Excel with formula examples

 How to use nested IFs in Excel
 IF formulas with multiple AND/OR conditions

TRIM

If your obviously correct Excel formulas return just a bunch of errors, one of the first things to
check is extra spaces in the referenced cells (You may be surprised to know how many leading,
trailing and in-between spaces lurk unnoticed in your sheets just until something goes wrong!).

There are several ways to remove unwanted spaces in Excel, with the TRIM function being the
easiest one:

TRIM(text)

For example, to trim extra spaces in column A, enter the following formula in cell A1, and then
copy it down the column:

=TRIM(A1)

It will eliminate all extra spaces in cells but a single space character between words:

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Useful resources:

 Excel TRIM function with formula examples

 How to delete line breaks and non-printing characters
 How to remove non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;)
 How to delete a specific non-printing character

LEN

Whenever you want to know the number of characters in a certain cell, LEN is the function to
use:

LEN(text)

Wish to find out how many characters are in cell A2? Just type the below formula into another
cell:

=LEN(A2)

Please keep in mind that the Excel LEN function counts absolutely all characters including
spaces:

Want to get the total count of characters in a range or cells or count only specific characters?
Please check out the following resources.

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Useful resources:

 Excel LEN formulas to count characters in a cell

 Count the number of characters in cells and ranges

AND & OR

These are the two most popular logical functions to check multiple criteria. The difference is
how they do this:

 AND returns TRUE if all conditions are met, FALSE otherwise.

 OR returns TRUE if any condition is met, FALSE otherwise.

While rarely used on their own, these functions come in very handy as part of bigger formulas.

For example, to check the test results in columns B and C and return "Pass" if both are greater
than 60, "Fail" otherwise, use the following IF formula with an embedded AND statement:

=IF(AND(B2>60, B2>60), "Pass", "Fail")

If it's sufficient to have just one test score greater than 60 (either test 1 or test 2), embed the OR
statement:

=IF(OR(B2>60, B2>60), "Pass", "Fail")

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Useful resources:

 Excel AND function with formula examples

 Excel OR function with formula examples

CONCATENATE

In case you want to take values from two or more cells and combine them into one cell, use the
concatenate operator (&) or the CONCATENATE function:

CONCATENATE (text1, [text2], …)

For example, to combine the values from cells A2 and B2, just enter the following formula in a
different cell:

=CONCATENATE (A2, B2)

To separate the combined values with a space, type the space character (" ") in the arguments list:

=CONCATENATE (A2, " ", B2)

Useful resources:

 How to concatenate in Excel - formula examples to combine text strings, cells and
columns.

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  CONCAT function - newer and improved function to combine the contents of multiple
cells into one cell.

TODAY & NOW

To see the current date and time whenever you open your worksheet without having to manually
update it on a daily basis, use either:

=TODAY () to insert the today's date in a cell.

=NOW () to insert the current date and time in a cell.

The beauty of these functions is that they don't require any arguments at all, you type the
formulas exactly as written above.

Useful resources:

 Excel NOW function - how to insert the current date and time as a dynamic value.
 How to insert today's date in Excel - different ways to enter the current date in Excel: as
an unchangeable time stamp or automatically updatable date and time.
 Excel date functions with formula examples - formulas to convert date to text and vice
versa, extract a day, month or year from a date, calculate the difference between two
dates, and a lot more.

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Best practices for writing Excel formulas

Now that you are familiar with the basic Excel formulas, these tips will give you some guidance
on how to use them most effectively and avoid common formula errors.

Copy the same formula to other cells instead of re-typing it

Once you have typed a formula into a cell, there is no need to re-type it over and over again.
Simply copy the formula to adjacent cells by dragging the fill handle (a small square at the
lower right-hand corner of the cell). To copy the formula to the whole column, position the
mouse pointer to the fill handle and double-click the plus sign.

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Note. After copying the formula, make sure that all cell references are correct. Cell references
may change depending on whether they are absolute (do not change) or relative (change).

For the detailed step-by-step instructions, please see How to copy formulas in Excel.

Operators in Excel worksheet formulas

To tell Microsoft Excel what type of operation you want to perform in a formula, you use special
symbols that are technically called operators. There exist 4 types of operators in Excel:

 Arithmetic - to perform basic mathematical operations.

 Comparison (logical) - to compare values.
 Concatenation - to join text values into a single string.
 Reference - to make ranges and separate arguments in Excel functions.

Using arithmetic operators in Excel formulas

These operators are used to perform basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division.

Operator Meaning Formula example

+ (plus sign) Addition =A2+B2

=A2-B2
Subtraction
- (minus sign) =-A2 (changes the sign of the value
Negation (reversing the sign)
in A2)

* (asterisk) Multiplication =A2*B2

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 Operator Meaning Formula example

/ (forward slash) Division =A2/B2

=A2*10%
% (percent sign) Percentage
(returns 10% of the value in A2)

=A2^3
^ (caret) Exponential (power of) (raises the number in A2 to the
power of 3)

For example, if you have an item price in cell A2 and VAT in cell B2, you can calculate the VAT
amount by using the following percentage formula: =A2*B2

Comparison operators in Excel formulas

In Microsoft Excel formulas, comparison, or logical, operators are used to compare two values.
The result of the comparison is always a logical value of TRUE or FALSE. The following logical
operators are available in Excel:

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 Comparison
Meaning Formula example
operator

= Equal to =A2=B2

<> Not equal to =A2<>B2

> Greater than =A2>B2

< Less than =A2<B2

>= Greater than or equal to =A2>=B2

<= Less than or equal to =A2<=B2

For example, formula =A1=B1 returns TRUE if cells A1 and B1 contain the same value
(number, text or date), FALSE otherwise.

For more information and examples of using comparison operators in MS Excel formulas, please
check out the following tutorial: Excel logical operators - equal to, not equal to, greater than, less
than.

Conclusion

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A function is a predefined formula that performs calculations using specific values in a particular
order. All spreadsheet programs include common functions that can be used for quickly finding
the sum, average, count, maximum value, and minimum value for a range of cells.

You can add the sum of your values, count all or only numeric values, average them, find the
largest or small value in a series, multiply them together to derive their product, or estimate or
derive their standard deviation or variance. By default, subtotals and summaries use the Sum
function.

Overall by this study we came on a conclusion that in modern era spreadsheets did our work easy
that we can complete our work in few clicks on excel by using their predetermined functions.
Today in every industry, offices, hospitals, educational institution, organisation or any kind of
business entity is using these excel function to prepare their data base.

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