Formulas are powerful tools for performing calculations and analyzing data in Excel. In this beginner’s guide, you’ll learn how to use formulas and explore some popular built-in functions.

Another function, COUNT (), counts the cells in its range that contain numbers. Many of Excel's statistical functions also calculate the aggregate value of a range of cells.

The first function anyone should know tells Excel to carry out basic arithmetic. Let’s say you wanted the numbers in cell A2 and cell B2 to be added together in cell C2.

I think this becomes much clearer with an example. Note that the content that follows is based on Microsoft Excel 365 for PCs. Other versions of Excel may work differently. Let’s go through an example ...