Exploring the Syntax of Functions

Worksheet functions have two parts: the name of the function and the arguments that follow. Function names—such as SUM and AVERAGE—describe the operation the function performs. Arguments specify the values or cells to be used by the function. For example, the function ROUND has the following syntax: =ROUND(number, num_digits), as in the formula =ROUND(M30,2). The M30 part is a cell reference entered as the number argument—the value to be rounded. The 2 part is the num_digits argument. The result of this function is a number (whatever the contents of cell M30 happens to be) rounded to two decimal places.

Parentheses surround function arguments. The opening parenthesis must appear immediately after the name of the ...

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