First Excel Lesson - Formulas, SUM & SUMIF Functions

To become a good financial analyst, it is imperative that we are able to use Excel at the back of our fingertips. Just like how warrior and swordsmen of the past need a good sword complemented with superior sword techniques, Excel is a good sword used by superior analysts for financial analysis and the way we use Excel is likened to the superior sword techniques in the past. Therefore, I will now be learning Excel with my readers, and hopefully I will be able to put it to good use later on. Since I am going to be entirely writing in texts, it might be confusing for some readers so do head to this official site to benefit the most from my interpretation of the lesson here. 

In the first lesson, I was taught that a formula always start with an = sign. Cells are all the blank rectangles that we see in the Excel worksheet. We can also reference and add specific cells by typing =(B2+B3) for example. In addition, by double clicking a specific cell, we can see the contents of the cell. Moreover, we can also use the Autosum function to do a quick sum of the various contents in the cell. Typing Alt and = will give a fast sum of the column or row. After that, we can click the Autosum fuction at the home screen of the Excel file to average, count, maximum and minimum.

 

 

The =SUM function is for adding numbers in the various cells. We can do that by dragging the various cells with the CTRL key. One of the most important function I have personally learnt is the =SUMIF function. The =SUMIF function starts like this: SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range). For the range, it would be the cells that you want to evaluate. For the criteria, it has to be put in quotation marks like “>100” for example. The sum_range will be the actual cells to add if the range in the =SUMIF function successfully meets the criteria. The =SUMIF function can also be used with text. By using the * for the criteria, and defining specific letters after *, like *s for example, the corresponding cells in the range which has cells ending in s will be added by the sum_range if the criteria is met.

With that, I conclude the first tutorial of my learning journey of Microsoft Excel.