Excel provides a large number of built-in functions that can be used to perform specific calculations or to return information about your spreadsheet data.

1. Excel Built-In Functions and Formulas
Built in or inbuilt function are that type of functions which are already defined or created
in a program or in programming framework. User directly use built in function by only
call it. This function is built into an application and can it can be accessed by end-users
with simply call it.
Excel provides a large number of built-in functions that can be used to perform specific
calculations or to return information about your spreadsheet data.
To see all the functions by category, choose Formulas Tab, Insert Function. Then Insert
function Dialog appears from which we can choose the function.
Worksheet functions are categorized by their functionality. Click a category to
browse its functions. Or
press Ctrl+F to find a
function by typing the first
few letters or a descriptive
word. To get detailed
information about a function, click its name in the first column.

2. Excel Built-In Function Categories:
1. Text Functions
2. Logical Functions
3. Information Functions
4. Date and Time Functions
5. Lookup and Reference Functions
6. Math and Trig Functions
7. Statistical Functions
8. Database Functions
9. Financial Functions
10.Engineering Functions
11.Cube Functions
12.Web Functions
Formulas vs Functions
A Formula is an expression which calculates the value of a cell. Functions are predefined
formulas and are already available in Excel.
A formula can consist of five elements:
❖ Operators: Symbols such as + (for addition) and / (for division)
❖ Cell References: Named Cells and Ranges that can refer to cells in the current
worksheet, cells in the different worksheet of the same workbook and cells in
different worksheets of another workbook
❖ Values or Text Strings: Examples include 5.65 (a value) and “End-of-Game” (a
string, enclosed in quotes)
❖ Worksheet Functions and their arguments: Functions such as Average or Count
and their arguments
❖ Parentheses: Help to control the order in which expressions within a formula

3. Using Operators in Formulas
SYMBOL OPERATOR
+ Addition
- Subtraction
/ Division
* Multiplication
% Percent
& Text Concatenation
^ Exponentiation
= Logical Comparison (equal to)
> Logical Comparison (greater than)
< Logical Comparison (less than)
>= Logical Comparison (greater than or equal to)
<= Logical Comparison (less than or equal to)
<> Logical Comparison (not equal to)
: (colon) Range. Produces one reference to all the cells between two references
, (comma) Union. Combines multiple cell or range references into one reference
(single space) Intersection. Produces one reference to cells common to two references
Six new functions appeared in Excel 2019. These are:
1. CONCAT Function: This function allows you to combine text, strings or range
into one string saving time and energy. It is an improvement over
CONCATENATE. This function is similar to CONCAT but more powerful.
2. TEXTJOIN Function: It joins multiple cells or ranges to one string with a specified
delimiter. Yes, you can specify the delimiter or a separator in the function.

4. 3. MAXIFS Function: As the name describes, MAXIFS identifies the maximum
value based on multiple conditions given in the formula
4. MINIFS Function: As the name describes, MINIFS returns the minimum value
based on multiple conditions.
5. IFS Function: This function checks the multiple conditions and returns the
corresponding value.
6. SWITCH Function: This function helps you to evaluate your expression against
the given set of values as IF function does. It returns the value based on the first
exact match.
Let’s make life easier with Excel…
Sources:
❖ https://www.excelfunctions.net
❖ https://www.howtoexcel.org
Microsoft Excel 2013 Formulas, John Walkenbach, ISBN: 978-1-118-49189-8
(ebk)