Functions in Excel: what are they used for?

It should be noted that the well-known programExcel has a huge functionality, even a small part of which often remains behind the scenes. This is especially true for daily office work, many of whose operations can be automated. In the environment of professional users, functions in Excel are extremely in demand, with which you can even create your own formulas. However, and what is it generally?

The fact is that the functions in this applicationcalled simple text commands that are interpreted by the computer, allowing you to carry out even very complex mathematical calculations. To make you understand, we give an illustrative example. What do you think, what are the functions in Excel of this kind: "= AVERAGE (A1: A5)"? If you decipher the abbreviation in the beginning, then in the translation into Russian it will be "the average value from the range of cells from A1 to A5 inclusive." The ":" sign denotes not the division, but the range.

I must say that manually enter the numbers of cellsdoes not make sense, because when you select them with the left mouse button, the program itself substitutes them in the formula input line. The possibility of such calculations makes the functions in Excel a powerful tool, allowing you to perform complex mathematical actions, linking the tables in a single interactive system.

How to enter them?

Like functions, formulas should start with a sign"=" In the input line. Then follows the abbreviation for the expression followed by brackets (as in the example above). Inside, there are arguments that are a graphic representation of the values ​​that are used in the calculations. As functions, Excel can use not only individual cells, but also a single value, as well as whole series of cell references. So, the expression "= SUM (12,24)" will give you the result "36", whereas a similar system "= SUMM (A12: A24)" will give out the sum of those numbers that are in the specified range.

Nested functions

As we have already said, this tool isso powerful that it allows solving even extremely complicated equations. For this Excel (whose function value can be very different) uses other expressions in complex systems. To be clearer, let's give a practical example: "= SUMM (A5: A10; AVERAGE (B7: C10))". Note that seven-fold nesting is supported. Of course, you can enter more arguments, but such an expression will no longer be considered.

However, Microsoft experts are constantly working on improving their products, so there is a chance that the program will soon understand even more complex expressions.

"Master"

For beginners, the "Wizard of Functions" is provided, which greatly facilitates their creation. You can use it in two ways:

• Find the "Insert" tab and select the "Function" sub-item in it;
• You can shorten the time by finding the "Insert function" button on the toolbar.

As we have already said, apply the tabularthe editor from Microsoft is also available to students, since it gives the opportunity to calculate more "vital" examples. Thus, the graph of a function in Excel will allow us to obtain a convenient and intuitive graphical solution of problems of the form "y = f (x), the interval [a, b]. Step h = 0.1 ". This will greatly facilitate the learning process.