Chapter 4

Fixing Formula Boo-Boos

In This Chapter

arrow Preventing errors with Excel

arrow Following the flow of cell and range references to and from formulas

arrow Keeping an eye on changes with the Watch Window

arrow Stepping through a calculation to find the error

arrow Displaying user-friendly error messages

Excel would be nothing if it didn’t enable you to create formulas. Creating formulas is, after all, the real purpose of a worksheet: to allow you to build a solution that pertains to your specific needs. Without formulas, Excel would be no more than a place to store information. Boring!

Excel allows formulas to have up to 8,192 characters. This means you can create some monster formulas! Formulas can reference cells that have formulas that reference other cells that have formulas that reference … well, you get the idea!

Ah, but this comes at a price. How can you track down errors in long formulas? How can you avoid them in the first place? In this chapter, I explain how Excel steers you away from entering ...

Get Excel Formulas and Functions For Dummies, 4th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.