Excel formulas, made simple.

Select a cell, type an equal sign (=), enter the function name, and supply your arguments inside parentheses. For example, =SUM(A2:A10) calculates the total for that range. Every formula guide on this site includes an interactive builder that constructs and verifies syntax for you.

Excel does not require a dedicated percentage function; use standard division. To find what share a part is of a total, write =B2/C2. To calculate percentage variance or growth between periods, write =(B2-A2)/A2. Set the cell number format to Percentage (%) so the decimal displays as 25.0%.

Add dollar signs before the column letter and row number to freeze references. $A$2 freezes both column and row (absolute reference), A$2 freezes only the row, and $A2 freezes only the column. Press F4 (or Cmd+T on Mac) while typing a reference to cycle through locking modes quickly.

Excel does not have a SUBTRACT function. Use the minus operator directly: =A2-B2 subtracts cell B2 from A2. To subtract multiple cells from a starting total, combine them with SUM: =A2-SUM(B2:B10).

VLOOKUP searches the leftmost column of a range and retrieves a value from a specified column index: =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index, FALSE). In modern Excel (365 and 2021) and Google Sheets, prefer =XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array). XLOOKUP defaults to exact match, searches in any direction, and never breaks when inserting table columns.

Use =SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2]). Unlike the older SUMIF function, SUMIFS places the sum range first. For example: =SUMIFS(D2:D100, A2:A100, "East", B2:B100, ">500") sums values in column D where column A is "East" and column B exceeds 500.

Basic conditional logic uses =IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false). To test multiple conditions simultaneously, wrap them in AND or OR: =IF(AND(A2>=70, B2>=70), "Pass", "Review"). For cascading tiered evaluations, use the modern =IFS(score>=90, "A", score>=80, "B", score>=70, "C", TRUE, "F").

Use =COUNTIF(range, criteria) for a single rule, or =COUNTIFS(range1, criteria1, range2, criteria2) for multiple rules. For example, =COUNTIFS(A2:A50, "Pending", B2:B50, "<"&TODAY()) counts overdue pending orders.

Use =TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, range) to merge ranges with a separator, such as =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A2:C2). You can also concatenate strings using the ampersand operator: =A2 & " " & B2.

AVERAGE computes the arithmetic mean of all numeric cells in a range, ignoring blank cells and text strings. AVERAGEIF filters by one condition, and AVERAGEIFS handles multiple criteria ranges simultaneously before computing the average.

Use =ROUND(number, num_digits) for standard math rounding (5 rounds up). Use =ROUNDUP or =ROUNDDOWN to force direction, or =MROUND(number, multiple) to round to nearest increments such as 0.05 or 5.

Use =TRIM(text) to remove leading, trailing, and repeated internal spaces. Nest with =PROPER(TRIM(A2)) or =LOWER(TRIM(A2)) to standardize capitalization simultaneously across imported data.

Subtract dates directly for total calendar days: =B2-A2. For business days excluding weekends, use =NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays]). To compute full years or months completed, use =DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, "Y") or =DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, "M").

Yes. Every formula reference, visual builder, cheat sheet, and interactive sandbox is completely free and executes locally in your browser with zero registration or downloads.