Learn This Powerful Excel Formula Combination In Just 5 Minutes!
Learn This Powerful Excel Formula Combination In Just 5 Minutes!
You should learn as many formulae as possible to get better at Excel, right? Well, I’m not so sure! There are more than 500 Excel formulae available at the moment – you certainly don’t need to know them all. In fact, less than 20 formulae do the bulk of work for me in Excel. As long as you know two things – how to choose the right formulae for the job and, critically, how to use Excel formulae in combination.
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Rather than simply diving in and randomly picking a formula to learn, I’d suggest categorising formulae first, and learning the ones that suit your situation best. There’s a category of Excel formulae for doing data analysis, for example. So, if you’re primarily concerned with understanding datasets and producing reports, dashboards and the like, I’d recommend learning Excel’s ‘D’ formulae – starting with my favourite – DSUM.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Motivation – learn formulae in combination
00:28 Simple IF Formula Example
01:15 IF combined with AND Example
02:52 IF combined with OR Example
Another way to approach building your Excel vocabulary is to consider which formulae work together best. I love drawing the analogy with ‘fish and chips’! Two things that might seem innocuous individually can create beautiful synergy together. Just like Friday night when you open the wrapper and … oh, now I’m thinking about food! DSUM for example, combines with INDIRECT and data tables in Excel to make incredible ‘click-of-a-button’ analyses. I love the feeling of simplicity, beauty and the sense you’re getting ‘bang for your buck’. Just like fish and chips!
So, what about the Excel IF formula, the topic of today’s video? This formula is technically classified by Microsoft as ‘logical’ since it concerns logic and, specifically, what are known as ‘logical tests’ in Excel. ‘If something is happening, do this; if it’s not happening, do that …’
I would argue, however, all spreadsheets are built on ‘logic’ (perhaps to a greater or lesser extent!), so this categorisation is not particularly helpful. For me, the IF formula falls into the ‘modelling’ category, since it’s primarily used for building ‘models’ – representations of real-world factors linked together in terms of input, process and output. That sounds complicated, but a budget planner, one of the most common applications of Excel, is an example of an Excel ‘model’.
So, if you’re modelling in Excel, you’ll need the IF formula. But you’re missing out if you don’t then get to know IF’s partners in crime! In the video, I demonstrate how IF combines with the AND and OR formulae to powerful effect to create a simple data analysis.
Make sure you download the file and work along with me to learn this important Excel formula combination. At the same time, think about what you’re trying to get done in Excel and how that might affect the (combinations of) formulae you need to know. Remember, you don’t need to know them all. You’ll probably need just a handful …
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