iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Chapter 21. Advanced Data Crunching with Functions

You can get lots done in your spreadsheet simply by mixing formulas with the ingredients you’ve seen so far: cell references, operators, and constant values. You could put down this book right now and be wildly productive with Numbers—the whole world of basic algebra is your oyster. But the great thing is that you don’t have to do the algebra (or eat the oyster, for that matter). Numbers gives you more than 250 predefined calculations called functions that juggle figures for you so you don’t have to construct the equations yourself. They can even do a few tasks for you that are flat out impossible to do with straight-up arithmetic.

Functions can handle a range of jobs including simple two-plus-two addition, converting teaspoons to tablespoons, and figuring out an asset’s depreciation. They’re not limited to working with numbers, either. Functions can transform text, traverse the calendar, construct sentences, make logical decisions, and sift through tables to find certain values. This chapter shows you how to put this remarkable collection of timesavers to use in your formulas. You’ll start with the most common tasks and move on to sophisticated strategies for wrangling data across multiple tables in your spreadsheet.