Excel Formulas and Functions 2020: The Step by Step Excel Guide with Examples on How to Create Powerful Formulas

Excel becomes much more useful when formulas stop feeling like mysterious strings of symbols. Adam Ramirez’s guide takes readers from formula basics into a wide-ranging tour of spreadsheet functions, with examples and screenshots intended to make the steps easier to follow.

The book starts with how formulas are entered, edited, copied, and organized through Excel’s Formula tab. From there, it explains relative, absolute, and mixed cell references, then groups commonly used functions by purpose. The result is a hands-on introduction to the building blocks behind everyday calculations, data checks, and worksheet tasks.

Get comfortable with formulas and cell references

Early chapters cover Excel’s basic role in storing and analyzing information, along with formula entry, editing, operator precedence, and the Function Library. A dedicated section on relative, absolute, and mixed references addresses a common sticking point: what happens to a formula when it is copied to another cell.

A broad tour of Excel functions

The function chapters move across several practical categories, including financial calculations such as present value and PMT; logical functions such as AND, OR, XOR, and NOT; text tools; date and time functions; lookup and reference functions such as VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH, and INDEX; and mathematical and statistical functions. This organization helps readers explore a function family according to the kind of task at hand.

Examples for everyday spreadsheet work

Later sections address applied topics such as currency, decimal places, percentages, counting, conditional calculations, and combining text. Excel shortcuts and features—including AutoFill, Text to Columns, transpose, automatic sums, and working across sheets—round out the guide.

A useful starting point for Excel learners

Readers who are learning to build or adapt formulas may appreciate the step-by-step approach and visual guidance. The range of function names also makes the book useful for spreadsheet users who want to identify tools worth exploring as their needs grow. Keep in mind that the book is explicitly a 2020 guide, so readers should check current Excel documentation when a task depends on newer features or interface changes.