What Are Functions?

Functions are complex ready-madeformulas that perform a series of operations on a specified range of values. For example, to determine the sum of a series of numbers in cells A1 through H1, you can enter the function =SUM(A1:H1) instead of entering =A1+B1+C1 and so on. Functions can use range references (such as B1:B3), range names (such as SALES), or numerical values (such as 585.86).

Every function consists of the following three elements:

  • The = sign indicates that what follows is a function (formula).

  • The function name, such as SUM, indicates which operation will be performed.

  • The argument, such as (A1:H1), indicates the cell addresses of the values that the function will act on. The argument is often a range of cells, but ...

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