Excel 2000 in a Nutshell

Function Arguments

Nearly all of the functions require certain values to be specified. These values are referred to as arguments. The arguments for a function are enclosed in parentheses and each argument is separated by a comma (argument1, argument2, argument3, argument4).

Each function has specific requirements for the type of arguments it expects, as outlined in Chapter 12-Chapter 20. The type of argument that can be specified falls into the following categories:

Cell Reference

This is the most commonly used value for an argument. This value is simply a reference to a cell or range of cells that contain the appropriate values for the argument. For example, if you are adding the values in two cells you would specify =SUM(A1,A2) to add the values in cells A1 and A2.

If the argument accepts a cell reference it must meet the data requirements for the argument. For example, if the argument requires a numeric value, the referenced cell must contain a numeric value.

Literal Argument

A literal argument is a text string, date, time, logical, or numeric value that is specified directly as an argument for a function. For example, if you specify =SUM(3,4) in a cell, the value of the cell is always 7.

When text strings, dates, or times are specified as a literal argument they must be enclosed in double quotes. For example, =CONCATENATE("Microsoft" "Excel") joins the two text strings together. If the text strings are specified in cells that are referenced by the function, they do not need to be ...