A Comprehensive Guide to Advanced Excel Functions

 

Microsoft Excel is a powerful software tool used for calculations, data analysis, and much more. Advanced Excel Functions are an essential part of this software, which can help you perform complex calculations and tasks. In this guide, we will look at some of the most commonly used advanced functions in Excel, along with their examples.

Goal Seek Function

The Goal Seek function is a powerful feature of Advanced Excel Functions that allows you to get the desired output by changing the assumptions. This function uses a trial and error method to achieve the desired result. Let's look at an example to understand it better:

Example

Suppose you want to find the interest rate if you want to pay $5000 per month to settle a loan amount of $400,000. The PMT function is used to calculate the monthly payment needed to settle the loan amount. Here are the steps to follow to calculate the interest rate:

1. Enter the PMT formula in the cell that is the Payment cell adjacent.
2. As there is no value in the rate of interest cell, Excel gives us the payment of $3,333.33, assuming the rate of interest to be 0%. Ignore it.
3. Go to Data > What-If Analysis > Goal Seek.
4. Set the monthly payment to -5,000. The negative value signifies the deduction in amount.
5. Set the rate of interest as the changing cell.
6. Click OK. You will see the goal seek function automatically gives the interest rate that is required to pay the loan amount.
7. Go to Home > Number and change the value to Percentage.

What-If Analysis with Solver

What-If Analysis is a method of changing values to try out different scenarios for formulas in Advanced Excel. Solver is an add-in program in Microsoft Excel, which is ideal for What-If Analysis. The feature can be used to identify an optimal value for a formula in the cell known as the objective cell. Constraints or limits are applicable to other formula cell values on a worksheet. Solver works with decision variables, which are a group of cells used in computing the formulas in the objective and constraint cells. The solver adjusts the value of decision variable cells to work on the limits on constraint cells. This process aids in determining the desired result for the objective cell. Follow these steps to activate the Solver Add-in:

1. Click on the File tab and select Options.
2. Go to Add-ins, select Solver Add-in, and click on the Go button.
3. Check Solver Add-in and click OK.
4. In the Data tab, in the Analyze group, you can see the Solver option is added.

Here is an example of how to use Solver in Excel:

Problem: Suppose you are a business owner and want your income to be $8000. Calculate the units to be sold and price per unit to achieve the target.

1. Create a data model, as shown in the example.
2. On the Data tab, in the Analysis group, click the Solver button.
3. In the set objective, select the income cell and set its value to $8000.
4. To change the variable cell, select the C5, C6, and C10 cells.
5. Click Solve. Your data model will change according to the conditions.

Understanding Excel's IF and IFERROR Functions

Excel's IF and IFERROR functions are powerful tools that allow you to create more complex formulas in your spreadsheets. They can help you make decisions based on the values in your data, and handle errors that might otherwise cause your formula to fail.

IF Function

The IF function allows you to test a condition, and then return one value if the condition is true, and another value if the condition is false. The syntax of the IF function is as follows:

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=IF(test, true result, false result)

• test: This is the condition that you want to test.
• true result: This is the value that you would like to return if the test condition is true.
• false result: This is the value that you want to return if the test condition is false.

Example:

Suppose you have a spreadsheet with a column of numbers, and you want to add a new column that shows whether each number is greater than 10. You can use the following formula in the new column:

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=IF(A1>10, "Yes", "No")

This formula tests whether the value in cell A1 is greater than 10, and if it is, it returns the text "Yes". If the value is less than or equal to 10, it returns the text "No".

IFERROR Function

This IFERROR function allows you to handle errors that might occur in your formulas. If a formula returns an error, the IFERROR function can return a specific value or message instead of the error.

The syntax of the IFERROR function is as follows:

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=IFERROR(value, value_if_error)

• value: This is the formula that you want to evaluate.
• value_if_error: This is the value that you want to return if the formula in value returns an error.

Example:

Suppose you have a spreadsheet with a column of numbers, and you want to calculate the square root of each number. However, some of the numbers are negative, which would cause the SQRT function to return an error. You could use the following formula to calculate the square root of each number, and return the text "Error" if the SQRT function returns an error:

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=IFERROR(SQRT(A1), "Error")

This formula calculates the square root of the value in the cell A1, and if the value is negative, it returns the text "Error" instead of the error message that would normally be displayed.

I hope this helps make your article more clear and easy to understand!

Pivot Tables: An Overview

Pivot tables are an essential data summarization tool in Excel that enable users to report and explore trends based on information quickly and precisely. By using the drag-and-drop feature of pivot tables, you can create section-wise summaries and select appropriate functions to analyze your data.

Creating a Pivot Table

To create a pivot table in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Click on any cell within the data set.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click PivotTable.
3. A dialog box will appear, and Excel will auto-select your data set.
4. Click Ok, and a new worksheet for your pivot table will be created.

Using a Pivot Table

To get the total items bought by each buyer, drag the following fields to the following areas:

1. Buyer field to Rows area.
2. Items field to Values area.

Excel VBA: An Introduction

Excel VBA (Visual Basic Analysis) is Microsoft's event-driven programming language for Office applications. Most people who write VBA code use macros.

Enabling Developer Options in Excel

To access the Developer tab in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Right-click anywhere on the ribbon, and select Customize the Ribbon.
2. Check the Developer checkbox.

VBA Editor Interface

To open the VBA interface in Excel, use the ALT + F11 keyboard shortcut or go to the Developer tab and click on Visual Basic.

Creating a Command Button and Assigning a Macro

To create a macro with the help of a command button, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Developer tab > Insert > ActiveX Controls > Command button.
2. Drag the command button onto your worksheet.
3. To assign a macro to the command button, right-click on the command button and select View Code.
4. Add the following lines of code shown below.
5. Close the VBA editor and click on the command button on the worksheet. Make sure to deselect the design mode.

Index and Match

Index and Match are advanced Excel functions. The MATCH function returns the position of a value in a specified range, while the INDEX function returns a specific value present in a uni-dimensional range.

Offset Function

The OFFSET function returns a reference to a range of cells that is a specified number of rows and columns from a cell or range of cells. The syntax for OFFSET is:

OFFSET(reference, rows, cols, [height], [width])

Example:

Suppose you have the following data:

To reference C4 starting at A1, the reference is A1, rows is 3, and cols is 2:

SUM Function with OFFSET

Suppose you have a monthly sales data of two years. The goal is to find the sum of sales for a specific month. The OFFSET function returns a 1x2 range, eight rows below cell A2, and one column to the right of cell A2. The SUM function then calculates the sum of this range.