Chapter 12. Crunching the Numbers

In This Chapter

  • Understanding formulas

  • Writing a formula

  • Making use of functions in formulas

  • Sorting and filtering data

This chapter explains how to construct formulas and analyze data with the Sort and Filter commands.

Formulas are where it's at as far as Excel Web App is concerned. After you know how to construct formulas, and constructing them is pretty easy, you can truly put Excel Web App to work. You can make the numbers speak to you. You can turn a bunch of unruly numbers into meaningful figures and statistics.

This chapter explains what a formula is, how to enter a formula, and how to enter a formula quickly. You also discover how to copy formulas from cell to cell and keep formula errors from creeping into your workbooks. This chapter also explains how to make use of the hundred or so functions that the Excel Web App offers. Finally, you discover how to sort and filter data to locate the information you need in a worksheet.

How Formulas Work

A formula, you may recall from the sleepy hours you spent in math class, is a way to calculate numbers. For example, 2+3=5 is a formula. When you enter a formula in a cell, Excel Web App computes the formula and displays its results in the cell. Click in cell A3 and enter =2+3, for example, and the Excel Web App displays the number 5 in cell A3.

Referring to cells in formulas

As well as numbers, Excel formulas can refer to the contents of different cells. When a formula refers to a cell, the number in the cell ...

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