Excel Excellence (Microsoft Excel training that "sticks"): Formulas

Excel training that “sticks” by
Laura Winger

• Your instructor
– Laura Winger, CPIM, CSCP
– Six Sigma Black Belt from Honeywell and Bourns
– BSE in Industrial Engineering for Arizona State
– MBA from Arizona State with a focus on Operations / Supply Chain
Management
– Experience in purchasing (Avnet), quality, operational excellence,
project management, VMI leader (Honeywell),production planning
(Henkel / Dial)
– Hobbies include writing, swing dancing, running, hiking, painting,
interior design, learning foreign languages, traveling,
beer/wine/cheese tasting, martial arts, other types of dance,
glassblowing
Excel Excellence 2

“It is when the tools of production are
transparent, that we are inspired to create.”
- Chris Anderson, The Long Tail

• Show up! You can’t learn if you’re not here!
• Participate! Turn off the cell phone, close the
email, and stay engaged.
• Ask questions!
• Do the homework!
• Reflect and apply - Think about what you’ve
learned and how you might use this in your
workplace or home life.
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 Formulas
– Common Formulas
– References
– Numeric Formulas
– Formula Tips and Terminology
– Informational Logic
– Conditional Math
– Lookup functions
– Strings and Dates
• Formatting and Filtering
• Sorting and Pivot Tables
• Stats and Graphs
 Access Basics
 PowerPoint Tricks and Case Studies
 Macro Basics
Excel Excellence 5

Formulas
Capitalization does
• Warm-up
Type this into a cell:
=sum(4,2)
and hit “Enter”. Did you get 6?
What did Excel do while you were typing?
not matter in
formulas!
Excel Excellence 6

Formulas
• Ideas to think about
– Formulas are used for more than math
• Re-formatting data
• Extracting data
• Putting data together (“concatenating”)
– You will naturally memorize formulas which you frequently use
• Practice, practice, practice! those which you see most useful to you
– You don’t have to memorize all the formulas
• Knowing such formulas exist is the key; if you forget the specific
syntax, you can look it up multiple ways:
– Browse through the Formulas ribbon
– Use Insert Function, you can search in there
– Look it up on the Internet
Excel Excellence 7

Numeric Formulas
Don’t worry about
capitalization.
• Exercise 1
1. Use =sum(C4:C5)
• You should get 6.
1. Use =sum(C10:F11)
1. Use =sum(C16,E17)
1. Use =average(C22:E24)
• You should get 4.55556
1. Use =count(C28:E30)
• You should get 6, because three of
the cells are empty.
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Formulas - References
• Relative, absolute and mixed references
– Use F4 to toggle through combinations
Reference (Description) Changes to
$A$1 (absolute column and absolute row) $A$1
A$1 (relative column and absolute row) C$1
$A1 (absolute column and relative row) $A3
A1 (relative column and relative row) C3
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• Take your answer for (1.) and move it down (or
copy it down) one row below.
– It should change to 2, because there were no
absolute references.
• Modify your answer for (2.) to make all cells
absolute.
– No matter where you copy it, the answer should
remain the same (a value of 8).
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• Modify the formula for your answer in (3.) so that
only C16 is absolute.
– It should look like this: =SUM($C$16,E17)
– Now copy it down one row. It will then sum C16 and
E18, so you should get 13.
• Modify the formula for your answer in (4.) so that
only the rows are absolute)
– It should look like this: =AVERAGE(C$22:E$24)
– Now copy it to the right one column. It should change
to 5.166. If you copy this answer down one row, it will
stay at 5.166.
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Numeric Formulas
• Application: Cumulative Sum
=Sum(Absolute:Relative)
– What would happen if we
used a comma instead of a
colon?
– It would only add the first
value and the last value, but
not the values in between!
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Numeric Formulas
• Application: Cumulative Sum
=Sum(Absolute:Relative)
Use Exercise B tab.
Next to the value 1, type:
=SUM($B$4:B4)
Now copy this formula down
using the Fill handle in the
bottom right corner of the
cell.
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Numeric Formulas
• Round
=Round(Value, Decimal Places)
=RoundUp(Value, Decimal Places)
=RoundDown(Value, Decimal Places)
=mRound(Value, Multiple)
• Mod – returns the remainder after number is
divided by divisor
mRound is useful when
working with lot sizes
or required multiples
– Mod(n, d) = n – d*Int(n/d)
– Mod(4829, 100) = 29
• Quotient – Returns the integer portion of a division
– Quotient(28,5) = 5
Microsoft Excel Excellence 14

Numeric Formulas
• Application: Average Monthly Demand
Use Exercise C tab.
Under Ave Monthly Demand type:
=Average(C3:H3)
Now copy this formula down using the Fill handle in the
bottom right corner of the cell.
Microsoft Excel Excellence 15

Numeric Formulas
• Application: Rounded Average Monthly Demand
Under Rounded Ave Monthly Demand type:
=RoundUp(I3,0)
I3 is the value to be rounded, and 0 is the number of
decimal places to show.
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Nested Formulas
• When you want to use more than one formula in a
cell, it is called “nesting”
• In the previous example, we had one column for
the Average formula and one column for the
RoundUp formula. But using nested formulas, we
could do that all in one column.
• The first formula will be nested inside the second
formula.
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Nested Formulas
• Application: Rounded Average Monthly Demand
Go back to the Ave Monthly Demand column and add to
the formula:
=RoundUp(Average(C3:H3),0)
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Break Time
oWhat did you learn?
oWhere will you use it?
oDo you have any questions?

Formulas – IF formula
• An IF statement reads “If this is true, then
display this, otherwise display that”
– Similar to other programming languages: “If, Then,
Else” format
• On Exercise D sheet, determine how much more
needs to be spent (on purchase orders) to at
least cover demand in the month.
=IF(B2<0,-B2,0)
1.In cell D2, enter this formula:
2.Copy the formula down using the cell handler in the
bottom right corner of the cell
3.In the next column, multiply the quantity to place by
the unit price.
=D2*C2
4.Copy this formula down using the Fill handle Excel Excellence 20

Formula tips
• Show all formulas in a spreadsheet
– Press CTRL + ` (grave accent, above the Tab key).
• Conditional Terms
– Use <> to say “is different from” or “does not equal”
– Use >= for “greater than or equal to” and <= for “less
than or equal to”
• Nesting – Using formulas inside other formulas
=If(A1 >= 5, If(A1 <= 10,"Just right", "Too much"),
"Too little")
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Formulas
• Conditional Math
=SumIf(range, criteria, [sum range])
=CountIf(range, criteria)
• What if there was no AverageIf, how would I find the average?
=SumIf(range, criteria, [sum range])/CountIf(range, criteria)
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• What are four other Microsoft Office
applications other than Excel?
– Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access,
FrontPage, Visio, Project, Publisher,
OneNote
• What are the names of the six Brady
Bunch kids?
– Cindy, Jan, Marcia,
Bobby, Greg, Peter
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Lookup Formulas
• Basic formula:
Lookup(LookupValue,LookupVector,ResultVector)
• Variants:
Lookup(LookupValue,Array)
VLookUp(LookupValue, TableArray, ColIndexNum,
[RangeLookup])
HLookup
• Generally, you want to use FALSE as RangeLookup to ensure
you will get only exact matches
– WARNING: Values in LookupVector should be placed in
Ascending Order
– WARNING: If Lookup doesn’t find the LookupValue, it
matches the largest value in LookupVector that is less than
LookupValue
Excel Excellence 24

Lookup Formulas
• On Exercise E sheet, determine the gender of
the given kids listed in cells E3 to E6.
1.In cell F3, enter this formula:
=VLookUp(E3, $B$3:$C$8, 2, False)
2.Copy the formula down using the fill handle in the
bottom right corner of the cell
Notice the options that pop up
when you enter the formula.
Excel Excellence 25

Lookup Formulas
• HLookUp is used the same way, but for when
data is oriented in rows instead of in columns.
1.In cell G11, enter this formula (note the absolute
reference to column F):
= HLookUp($F11, $B$11:$D$13, 2, False)
2.Copy the formula to the right using the fill handle in
the bottom right corner of the cell
3.Modify the formula in cell H11 to reference the 3rd
row in the array:
= HLookUp($F11, $B$11:$D$13, 3, False)
4.Now copy both cells down using the cell handler.
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Lookup Formulas
• Note that there was
no “Favorite” in the
original array, so
the formula
evaluates to #N/A in
that row.
• You can use a
nested formula to
identify cells with
this value.
=IF(IsNA(HLookUp(…)),"Unknown","Known")
Excel Excellence 27

Lookup Formulas
• More likely you’d want to repeat the look up
formula if it is not N/A:
=IF(IsNA(HLookUp(…)), "Unknown", HLookUp(…))
Do you see the “nesting”? The second HLookUp is
nested in the IF formula, as the “Else” portion. The first
HLookUp is nested in the IsNA formula, which is nested in
• Putting it all together:
the first part of the IF formula!
=IF(IsNA(HLookUp($F13,$B$11:$D$13,2,False)),
"Unknown",HLookUp($F13,$B$11:$D$13,2,False))
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Formulas
• Informational Logic – other “Is” formulas:
• IsBlank
• IsErr
• IsError
• IsEven
• IsOdd
• IsLogical
• IsText
• IsNumber
Try experimenting with these to see how you might use
them in your own data analysis.
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Formulas – VLookUp Example
B14 will evaluate to #N/A, because there is no
B21648 value in the array above.
Which cell will evaluate
to #N/A?
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Strings
• Strings
– To use just a part of the text in another cell, use Left,
Right or Mid functions
=Left(A2, 5)
Returns the first 5
characters in A2
=Mid(A2, 2, 3)
Begins at the
second character,
and returns the next
3 characters
=Right(A2, 4)
Returns the last 4
characters of A2
Note: The Mid function can also
be used when you don’t know
where the desired string ends.
Consider using the Trim
function with the Mid function.
=Left(A2,5) Honey
=Mid(A2, 2, 3) ney
=Right(A2, 4) well
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Strings
• Unformatted dates look like strings
– Example: 081020 - in the form of yymmdd
– Use the Left, Right and Mid functions nested in a
Date function
=Date(Left(B37,2),Mid(B37,3,2),Right(B37,2))
• What’s wrong with this formula?
– This formula leads to 10/20/1908
– You can just add “100” to bring it into this century!
=Date(100+Left(B37,2),Mid(B37,3,2),Right(B37,2))
Excel Excellence 32

Strings
• Concatenation
– Use & to add to strings
– Mix numbers, strings and dates, but be careful of
formatting!
– Use quotes to add spaces, punctuation and extra text
Excel Excellence 33

Strings
• Lesser-known string functions
– Trim function – used to eliminate spaces at the
beginning and end of strings
– Len function – returns the length of a string
– Find function – reads through the string until it finds
the text being searched for, and returns the numeric
position of the first instance
Excel Excellence 34

Strings
• Putting It All Together
– Return the second word in a string of three or more
words of unknown length
=Trim(Mid(A1, Find(" ", A1), Find(" ", A1,
Find(" ", A1)+1)-Find(" ", A1)))
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Strings
– Change the format of a name from Last Name, First
Name to First Name Last Name
=Mid(A1, Find(", ",A1) + 2, 20) & " " &
Left(A1, Find(", ", A1) - 1)
Excel Excellence 36

Strings
• Go to Exercise F and develop a formula that
will give you just the cities from the four
APICS Chapters listed.
1.Start by identifying the location of the first
space:
=Find(“ ",B3)
2.Because all the chapters start with “APICS”
and end with “Chapter”, we’ll use the length
of the string:
37
= Len(B4)-Find (" ",B4)-8
Why -8? There are 7 characters in
the word “Chapter” and a space character.

Strings
3. Put it together with the Mid formula:
=Mid(B3,Find(" ",B3),Len(B3)-Find (" ",B3)-8)
4. Whoops! We need to start at the character
AFTER the first space, so add one:
=Mid(B3,Find(" ",B3)+1,Len(B3)-Find (" ",B3)-8)
5. Now copy this formula down, and see if it
works for the other chapters and cities.
Excel Excellence 38

Strings
– Excel turns anything that looks like a date into a date.
If you have to change it back, here’s one way to do it.
=If(IsText(A2), A2, Month(A2) & “-” & Day(A2) & “-” &
Year(A2))
Excel Excellence 39

Strings
Other string formulas you might find useful:
•To turn a string into an integer use: Int()
•To turn a string into a date use: DateValue()
•To create a new date from separate month,
day and year values use: Date()
Excel Excellence 40

Dates
• Dates and Serial Numbers
– Weekday(date) returns serialized day of the
week, ie. 1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday etc.
– Now() returns today’s date and time
• WARNING: This updates every time you update
your spreadsheet. To record “Now” permanently,
Copy and Paste Special… Values
– Today() returns today’s date, but not time
• Same WARNING applies
Excel Excellence 41

Dates
• Still on Exercise F sheet, fill in the “First of
the Month” in column I.
=DATE(YEAR(H3),MONTH(H3),1)
You might use this to sort or filter by monthly activities, or to report
activity by month. We’ll learn another way to group by month later.
Excel Excellence 42

Dates
• Now fill in the rest of the table in columns J
and K.
1.Start by identifying today’s date in cell H1:
=Today()
2. In cell J3, subtract today’s date from the date
listed next to the city. Remember to make
today’s date an absolute reference!
3. In cell I3, we’ll try a new formula:
43
=H3-$H$1
=NetWorkDays ($H$1,H3)
NetWorkDays gives you the number of working days (weekdays)
between two dates, in this case between today and the given date.

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Excel Excellence (Microsoft Excel training that "sticks"): Formulas

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