Chapter 13. Advanced Formula Writing and Troubleshooting

13. Advanced Formula Writing and Troubleshooting

Over the last five chapters you've learned how to use Excel's impressive function toolkit to calculate everything from statistical trend lines to a payment schedule for a home mortgage. Now that you've had a close look at these functions, it's time to consider a few techniques to help you get the most from your formulas.

In this chapter, you'll tackle four new topics that deal with writing advanced formulas:

• How to use conditional logic with functions like SUMIF( ) and COUNTIF( ).

• How to make formulas more readable by using named ranges.

• How to control when Excel recalculates your worksheets.

• How to solve mysterious errors by using Excel's formula auditing tools.