what is function vs. formula?

[francine]

my question is what is function vs. formula?
I need to know so that I can study for finals. I'm trying to get as much
information as I can on the subject so that I may possibly get a good grade

[richardreye]

This is my interpretation of the difference.

In Excel, there are a number of functions such as SUM, VLOOKUP, COUNT, IF, etc and can be used like this =IF(A2="1","On","Off").

A Formula, in my opinion, can be anywhere from 1 to many functions put together. For example =IF(ISERROR(A1/B1),0,A1/B1). This example uses two functions (IF & ISERROR) to do a simple division check so an error isn't returned.

I could be wrong on this but that is how I use the two terms.

HTH

[Gord Dibben]

francine

Formulas can use Functions or not.

Functions have to be used in formula mode.

This is a formula =A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6+A7

This is a formula with a Function in use =SUM(A1:A7) which saves you a lot of
typing.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP



On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:17:03 -0800, "francine"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>my question is what is function vs. formula?
>I need to know so that I can study for finals. I'm trying to get as much
>information as I can on the subject so that I may possibly get a good grade

[Rob van Gelder]

A formula contains one or more operators.
eg. 1+1 (the + is the operator)

A function returns one value
=SUM(1, 2, 3, 4)

--
Rob van Gelder - http://www.vangelder.co.nz/excel


"francine" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> my question is what is function vs. formula?
> I need to know so that I can study for finals. I'm trying to get as much
> information as I can on the subject so that I may possibly get a good
> grade
>

[Gord Dibben]

The statement below is not entirely true.

Actually, Functions do not have to be used only in Formulas.

A Function can be called by VBA code also.

A couple of examples.........one with a User Defined Function...........

Sub foo()
MsgBox "The row height is " & rowht(ActiveCell)
End Sub

Function rowht(x)
Application.Volatile
rowht = x.RowHeight
End Function

One using an Excel Function............

Sub foo2()
MsgBox "The Total is " & Application.WorksheetFunction.Sum(Range("A1:A32"))
End Sub


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 18:35:09 -0800, Gord Dibben <gorddibbATshawDOTca> wrote:

>francine
>
>Formulas can use Functions or not.
>
>Functions have to be used in formula mode.
>
>This is a formula =A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6+A7
>
>This is a formula with a Function in use =SUM(A1:A7) which saves you a lot of
>typing.
>
>
>Gord Dibben Excel MVP
>
>
>
>On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:17:03 -0800, "francine"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>my question is what is function vs. formula?
>>I need to know so that I can study for finals. I'm trying to get as much
>>information as I can on the subject so that I may possibly get a good grade