Stop skimming lists that barely help. This guide is designed for action: each formula includes a scenario, a tested snippet, a pitfall to avoid, and a short exercise so you can confirm you actually learned it.
Tip: Try the examples in a blank sheet as you read. Most snippets work as‑is.
1) SUM — Fast, Flexible Totals
🎯 Scenario: Total monthly sales in B2:B13.
Common Excel Formulas Example
This example shows SUM, AVERAGE, and IF formulas in action. Hover over cells with formulas to see the formula syntax.
fxCells with formulas are highlighted in green
Hover over formula cells to see the formula and highlight referenced cells
- Snippet:
=SUM(B2:B13) - Also works (non‑adjacent ranges):
=SUM(B2:B13, D2:D13)
Pitfall: Text that "looks like" numbers won't sum. Wrap the range with
VALUE()or fix the import.
Mini exercise: Create numbers in B2:B6 and confirm your total matches a manual check.
2) AVERAGE / MEDIAN — Understand the Middle
🎯 Scenario: Teacher grading in C2:C31.
- Mean:
=AVERAGE(C2:C31) - Robust to outliers:
=MEDIAN(C2:C31)
Pitfall: Empty cells are ignored, zeros are not. Use
AVERAGEIF(C2:C31,">=")to ignore blanks that are actually empty strings.
Mini exercise: Add a single extreme value and compare AVERAGE vs MEDIAN.
3) COUNT / COUNTA — How Many Values?
- Numbers only:
=COUNT(D2:D100) - Anything non‑blank:
=COUNTA(D2:D100)
Pitfall: Spaces count as text. Use
TRIM()or clean your data before using COUNTA.
4) IF / IFS — Add Logic Without Code
🎯 Scenario: Flag invoices as overdue if days > 30.
- Simple:
=IF(E2>30, "Overdue", "On Time") - Multiple conditions (clearer than nested IFs):
= =IFS(E2>60,"Critical", E2>30,"Overdue", E2>0,"Pending", TRUE,"On Time") =
Pitfall: Order matters in
IFS. First match wins.
Mini exercise: Add a Paid status that overrides everything else with IF(Paid="Yes","Paid", yourIFS).
5) XLOOKUP (or VLOOKUP) — Find Things Reliably
Prefer XLOOKUP over VLOOKUP — it works left/right, has exact‑match by default, and returns better errors.
- XLOOKUP:
=XLOOKUP("John", A2:A100, C2:C100, "Not found") - Classic VLOOKUP (if you must):
=VLOOKUP("John", A2:C100, 3, FALSE)
Pitfall: With VLOOKUP, the lookup column must be the first column in the table. XLOOKUP has no such limitation.
Mini exercise: Swap the columns and confirm VLOOKUP breaks while XLOOKUP still works.
6) INDEX + MATCH — Power and Flexibility
When XLOOKUP isn’t available, use this dependable duo.
= =INDEX(C2:C100, MATCH("Product X", A2:A100, 0)) =
- Two‑way lookup (row + column):
= =INDEX(C2:G100, MATCH("Product X", A2:A100, 0), MATCH("May", C1:G1, 0)) =
Pitfall: The third argument of
MATCHshould be0for exact match 99% of the time.
7) MIN / MAX — Instant Extremes
= =MIN(H2:H366) =MAX(H2:H366) =
Enhance with conditional formatting to auto‑highlight best/worst days.
8) SUMIF / COUNTIF / AVERAGEIF — Criteria Math
🎯 Scenario: Sales over $100 in E2:E100.
-
Total:
=SUMIF(E2:E100, ">100") -
Count:
=COUNTIF(E2:E100, ">100") -
Average:
=AVERAGEIF(E2:E100, ">100") -
Multiple criteria (date range + region):
= =SUMIFS(F2:F100, A2:A100, ">="&DATE(2025,1,1), A2:A100, "<"&DATE(2026,1,1), B2:B100, "North") =
Pitfall: Criteria for dates must be text joined with
&as above.
9) TEXT — Beautiful, Useful Formatting
- Dates:
=TEXT(A2, "dddd, mmmm d, yyyy") - Currency with sign:
=TEXT(B2, "$#,##0.00") - IDs:
=TEXT(ROW(), "INV-0000")→INV-0001,INV-0002, …
Pitfall: TEXT returns text. If you need numbers later, wrap with
VALUE().
10) CONCAT / & / TEXTJOIN — Build Clean Labels
- Quick full name:
=A2&" "&B2 - Ignore blanks (best practice):
=TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, A2, B2, C2)
Pitfall:
CONCATENATE()is legacy. Prefer&,CONCAT, orTEXTJOIN.
Putting It Together — A Compact KPI Card
Create a single sentence KPI summary from raw data:
= ="Q"&TEXT(TODAY(),"Q")&" sales were "&TEXT(SUMIFS(Sales,Region,"North",Date,">="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),-3)+1,Date,"<="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),0)),"$#,##0")& " ("&COUNTIFS(Region,"North",Date,">="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),-3)+1,Date,"<="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),0))&" orders), avg "& TEXT(AVERAGEIFS(Sales,Region,"North",Date,">="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),-3)+1,Date,"<="&EOMONTH(TODAY(),0)),"$#,##0") =
This combines TEXT, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, and AVERAGEIFS into one presentation‑ready sentence.
Quick Checklist (copy to your sheet)
- Exact matches use
0in MATCH or the default in XLOOKUP - Date criteria wrapped with text and
& - Watch for numbers stored as text
- Prefer TEXTJOIN over fragile
&chains when ignoring blanks - Test each piece separately if something breaks
If you want a hands‑on way to master these, try the exercises in the app — each mirrors a real business scenario and reinforces the patterns above.