How This Book Is Organized

There are hundreds of ways to organize this material, but I settled on a scheme that divides the book into six main parts. In addition, I've included a few appendixes that provide supplemental information that you may find helpful.

Part I: Basic Information

This part is introductory in nature, and consists of Chapters 1 through 3. Chapter 1 sets the stage with a quick and dirty overview of Excel. This chapter is designed for readers who are new to Excel, but who have used other spreadsheet products. In Chapter 2, I cover the basics of formulas. This chapter is absolutely essential reading in order to get the most out of this book. Chapter 3 deals with names. If you thought names were just for cells and ranges, you'll see that you're missing out on quite a bit.

Part II: Using Functions in Your Formulas

This part consists of Chapters 4 through 10. Chapter 4 covers the basics of using worksheet functions in your formulas. I get more specific in subsequent chapters. Chapter 5 deals with manipulating text, Chapter 6 covers dates and times, and Chapter 7 explores various counting techniques. In Chapter 8, I discuss various types of lookup formulas. Chapter 9 deals with databases and lists, and Chapter 10 covers a variety of miscellaneous calculations such as unit conversions and rounding.

Part III: Financial Formulas

Part III consists of three chapters (Chapters 11 through 13) that deal with creating financial formulas. You'll find lots of useful formulas that you can adapt to your needs.

Part IV: Array Formulas

This part consists of Chapters 14 and 15. The majority of Excel users know little or nothing about array formulas-a topic that happens to be dear to me. Therefore I devote an entire part to this little-used yet extremely powerful feature.

Part V: Miscellaneous Formula Techniques

This part consists of Chapters 16 through 21. They cover a variety of topics-some of which, on the surface, may appear to have nothing to do with formulas. Chapter 16 demonstrates that a circular reference can be a good thing. In Chapter 17, you'll see why formulas can be important when you work with charts, and Chapter 18 covers formulas as they relate to pivot tables. Chapter 19 contains some very interesting (and useful) formulas that you can use in conjunction with Excel's conditional formatting and data validation features. Chapter 20 covers a topic that I call "megaformulas." A megaformula is a huge formula that takes the place of several intermediary formulas. And what do you do when your formulas don't work correctly? Consult Chapter 21 for some debugging techniques.

Part VI: Developing Custom Worksheet Functions

This part consists of Chapters 22 through 25. This is the part that explores Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the key to creating custom worksheet functions. Chapter 22 introduces VBA and the VB Editor, and Chapter 23 provides some necessary background on custom worksheet functions. Chapter 24 covers programming concepts, and Chapter 25 provides a slew of worksheet function examples that you can use as-is, or customize for your own needs.

Part VII: Appendixes

What's a computer book without appendixes? This book has four appendixes. In the appendixes, you'll find a quick reference guide to Excel's worksheet functions, tips on using custom number formats, and a handy guide to Excel resources on the Internet. The final appendix describes all the files on the CD-ROM.