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Steps:
1. Select the data that you want to conditionally format
2. Apply conditional formatting.
A. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the arrow next to Conditional
Formatting, and then click Color Scales.
B. Hover over the color scale icons to see a preview of the data with conditional
formatting applied.
In a three-color scale, the top color represents higher values, the middle color
represents medium values, and the bottom color represents lower values. This
example uses the Red-Yellow-Blue color scale.
On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting > Clear Rules > Clear Rules from Entire
Sheet.
In a range of cells
1. Select the cells that contain the conditional formatting.
2. Click the Quick Analysis Lens button image button that appears to the bottom
right of the selected data.
Important:
Note that the Quick Analysis Lens will not appear:
If all of the cells in the selected range are empty, or
If there is an entry only in the upper-left cell of the selected range, with all of the other
cells in the range being empty.
If you want to find out the future value of a particular investment which has a
constant interest rate and periodic payment, use the following formula
2. FVSCHEDULE
This financial function is important when you need to calculate the future value with
the variable interest rate. Have a look at the function below –
=FVSCHEDULE(Principal, Schedule)
4. PMT
PMT denotes the periodical payment required to pay off for a particular period of
time with a constant interest rate.
It is simply the number of periods one requires to pay off the loan.
6. RATE
Through RATE function, we can calculate the interest rate needed to pay to pay off
the loan in full for a given period of time.
The IF function is one of the most popular functions in Excel, and it allows you to make
logical comparisons between a value and what you expect. In its simplest form, the IF
function says:
So an IF statement can have two results. The first result is if your comparison is True, the
second if your comparison is False.
The best way to start writing an IF statement is to think about what you are trying to
accomplish. What comparison are you trying to make? Many times, writing an IF
statement can be as simple as thinking through the logic in your head: “what should
happen if this condition is met vs. what should happen if it’s not?” You will always want
to make sure that your steps follow a logical progression, or else your formula won’t do
what you think it should. This is especially important when you create complex (nested)
IF statements.
Calculation operators
If you want to learn more about the different calculation operators you can use in
formulas, (< less than, > greater than, = equals, <> not equal to, etc.),
Common problems
Problem What went wrong
While Excel will allow you to nest up to 64 different IF functions, it’s not at all advisable to
do so. Why?
Multiple IF statements require a great deal of thought to build them correctly and make
sure that their logic can calculate correctly through each condition all the way to the
end. If you don’t nest your IF statements 100% accurately, then a formula might work
75% of the time, but return unexpected results 25% of the time. Unfortunately, the odds
of you catching the 25% is slim.
Multiple IF statements can become very difficult to maintain, especially when you
come back some time later and try to figure out what you, or worse someone else, was
trying to do.
Multiple IF statements require multiple open and closing parentheses (), which can be
difficult to manage depending on how complex your formula becomes.
VLOOKUP Function
Reporter: Janyka Damasco
Use VLOOKUP when you need to find things in a table or a range by row. For example,
look up a price of an automotive part by the part number.
There are four pieces of information that you will need in order to build the VLOOKUP
syntax:
1. The value you want to look up, also called the lookup value.
2. The range where the lookup value is located. Remember that the lookup value
should always be in the first column in the range for VLOOKUP to work correctly. For
example, if your lookup value is in cell C2 then your range should start with C.
3. The column number in the range that contains the return value. For example, if you
specify B2: D11 as the range, you should count B as the first column, C as the second,
and so on.
4. Optionally, you can specify TRUE if you want an approximate match or FALSE if you
want an exact match of the return value. If you don't specify anything, the default
value will always be TRUE or approximate match.
Common Problems
Problem What went wrong
Wrong value If range_lookup is TRUE or left out, the first column needs to be
returned sorted alphabetically or numerically. If the first column isn't
sorted, the return value might be something you don't expect.
Either sort the first column, or use FALSE for an exact match.
#N/A in cell If range_lookup is TRUE, then if the value in the lookup_value is
smaller than the smallest value in the first column of
the table_array, you'll get the #N/A error value.
If range_lookup is FALSE, the #N/A error value indicates that the
exact number isn't found.
#REF! in cell If col_index_num is greater than the number of columns in table-
array, you'll get the #REF! error value.
Problem What went wrong
For more information on resolving #REF! errors in VLOOKUP.
#VALUE! in cell If the table_array is less than 1, you'll get the #VALUE! error value.
For more information on resolving #VALUE! errors in VLOOKUP.
#NAME? in cell The #NAME? error value usually means that the formula is
missing quotes. To look up a person's name, make sure you use
quotes around the name in the formula. For example, enter the
name as "Fontana" in =VLOOKUP("Fontana",B2:E7,2,FALSE).
Best Practices
Do this Why
Goal Seek is a built-in Excel tool that allows you to see how one data item in a formula
impacts another. You might look at these as “cause and effect” scenarios. It’s useful to
answer “what if” type questions because you can adjust one cell entry to see the result.
The tool is often used in finance, sales, and forecasting scenarios, but there are other
uses.
Technically, Goal Seek is a process of calculating a value by performing what-if analysis
on a given set of values. For our purposes, Excel's Goal Seek feature lets you adjust a
value used in a formula to achieve a specific goal. Or, put another way, Goal Seek
determines input values needed to achieve a specific goal
2. Click the cell you want to change. This is called the “Set cell”.
5. In the Goal Seek dialog, enter the new “what if” amount in the To value text box.
(Remember to add the percentage sign if you have one.)
In this example,
we’re asking Excel
to replace the
contents of cell
D4 which is 63.90%
with 66.67%. This is
the percentage
needed to win the
election.
6. We also need to tell Excel which cell to change. Since we wanted to know the
number of YES votes, we’ll click C4.
7. Click OK. Excel will overwrite the previous cell value with the new one.
Meeting goals
Excel's Goal Seek analysis tool is easy to use and can help you make decisions for the
future based on today's data.
Controlling When Workesheet is recalculated
Reporter: Louis Pascual
Normally, Excel 2013 recalculates your worksheet automatically as soon you change
any entries, formulas, or names on which your formulas depend. When Excel does
calculate your worksheet, the program recalculates only those cells that are affected
by the change that you’ve made.
1. Calculation Options button on the Formulas tab of the Ribbon and then;
After switching to manual recalculation, when you make a change in a value, formula,
or name that would usually cause Excel to recalculate the worksheet, the program
displays the message “Calculate” on the status bar.
When you’re ready to have Excel recalculate the worksheet, you then click the
Calculate Now (F9) command button (the one with a picture of the handheld
calculator) on the Ribbon’s FORMULAS tab or press F9 or Ctrl+=. This tells the program to
recalculate all dependent formulas and open charts and makes the Calculate status
indicator disappear from the status bar.
Option Purpose
Enable Iterative When this check box is selected, Excel sets the iterations,
Calculation that is, the number of times that a worksheet is recalculated,
when
performing goal seeking or resolving circular references to the
number displayed in the Maximum Iterations text box.
Maximum Iterations Sets the maximum number of iterations (100 by default) when
the
Iteration check box is selected.
Maximum Change Sets the maximum amount of change to the values during
each
iteration (0.001 by default) when the Iteration check box is
selected.
PMT Function
Reporters: Jose Fernando Rivera & Jesus Rondina
PMT, one of the financial functions, calculates the payment for a loan based on
constant payments and a constant interest rate.
Pv = Required. The present value, or the total amount that a series of future payments is
worth now; also known as the principal.
Fv = Optional. The future value, or a cash balance you want to attain after the last
payment is made. If fv is omitted, it is assumed to be 0 (zero), that is, the future value of
a loan is 0.
Type = Optional. The number 0 (zero) or 1 and indicates when payments are due.
The payment returned by PMT includes principal and interest but no taxes, reserve
payments, or fees sometimes associated with loans.
Make sure that you are consistent about the units you use for specifying rate and nper.
If you make monthly payments on a four-year loan at an annual interest rate of 12
percent, use 12%/12 for rate and 4*12 for nper. If you make annual payments on the
same loan, use 12 percent for rate and 4 for nper.
Tip : To find the total amount paid over the duration of the loan, multiply the returned
PMT value by nper.
PV Function
Reporter: Reniel Soriano
Summary
The Excel PV function is a financial function that returns the present value of an
investment. You can use the PV function to get the value in today's dollars of a series of
future payments, assuming periodic, constant payments and a constant interest rate.
Purpose
Get the present value of an investment
Return value
present value
Syntax
=PV (rate, nper, pmt, [fv], [type])
Arguments
rate - The interest rate per period.
nper - The total number of payment periods.
pmt - The payment made each period.
fv - [optional] A cash balance you want to attain after the last payment is made. If
omitted, assumed to be zero.
type - [optional] When payments are due. 0 = end of period, 1 = beginning of
period. Default is 0.
Usage notes
The PV function returns the value in today's dollars of a series of future payments,
assuming periodic, constant payments and a constant interest rate.
1. A stream of cash flows that includes the same amount of cash outflow (or inflow)
each period is called an annuity. For example, a car loan or a mortgage is an annuity.
When each period's interest rate is the same, an annuity can be valued using the PV
function.
2. In annuity functions, cash you pay out, such as a deposit to savings, is represented
by a negative number; cash you receive, such as a dividend check, is represented by a
positive number. For example, a $2,500 deposit to the bank would be represented by
the argument -2500 for pmt if you are the depositor, and by the argument 2500 for pmt
if you are the bank.
References
Anneh (2018). Find Quick Answers With Excel Goal Seek. Retrieved from
https://www.timeatlas.com/excel-goal-seek/
Harvey, Greg (2013). How To Control Formula Recalculation in Excel 2013. Retrieved
from http://www.dummies.com/software/microsoft-office/excel/how-to-control-
formula-recalculation-in-excel-2013/