Whether you're managing budgets, organizing data, or creating reports—Microsoft Excel is your go-to tool. And at the heart of Excel’s power lies formulas. These are the magic spells that automate calculations, save time, and make data meaningful.
In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the most essential Excel formulas that everyone—from students to professionals—should know.
Mastering basic formulas allows you to:
Perform calculations quickly
Analyze and organize data efficiently
Automate repetitive tasks
Look like an Excel pro at work or school
Let’s dive into the top formulas you need to know.
Purpose: Adds numbers in a range. =SUM(A1:A5)
✅ Adds all values from cell A1 to A5.
Purpose: Calculates the average (mean) of a range of numbers. =AVERAGE(B1:B5)
✅ Returns the average of cells B1 through B5.
Purpose: Finds the smallest or largest value in a range. =MIN(C1:C10)
=MAX(C1:C10)
✅ Great for identifying trends or outliers in data.
Purpose: Performs logic tests and returns results based on conditions. =IF(D1>50, "Pass", "Fail")
✅ Returns "Pass" if the value in D1 is greater than 50; otherwise, "Fail".
Purpose: Joins two or more text strings. =CONCAT(A1, " ", B1)
=TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A1:A3)
✅ Useful for combining first and last names or listing multiple items.
Purpose: Searches for a value in the first column of a table and returns a related value. =VLOOKUP(101, A2:C10, 2, FALSE)
✅ Looks for ID 101 in the first column and returns the value from the second column.
Purpose: Inserts current date and time. =NOW()
=TODAY()
✅ Automatically updates to the current time/date.
Purpose: Counts the number of cells with numbers, values, or specific conditions. =COUNT(A1:A10) ' Only numbers
=COUNTA(A1:A10) ' Non-empty cells
=COUNTIF(A1:A10, ">50") ' Numbers greater than 50
Formula Use Example
SUM() Add numbers =SUM(A1:A5)
AVERAGE() Get mean value =AVERAGE(B1:B5)
MIN() Smallest number =MIN(C1:C10)
MAX() Largest number =MAX(C1:C10)
IF() Conditional logic =IF(D1>50, "Pass", "Fail")
VLOOKUP() Search for values =VLOOKUP(ID, Table, Col, FALSE)
CONCAT() Join text =CONCAT(A1, " ", B1)
NOW() Current time & date =NOW()
COUNTIF() Count with conditions =COUNTIF(A1:A10, ">50")
Start small—practice one formula at a time.
Use Excel’s Formula tab for help and examples.
Combine formulas for powerful results (e.g., IF + AND).
Once you’re comfortable with basic formulas, explore:
INDEX & MATCH
IFERROR
ARRAYFORMULAS
Pivot tables
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