master excel functions - blog - excel by...
TRANSCRIPT
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Hi Everyone!
First off, thanks for downloading this free 30 page preview of our first course,
”Master Excel Functions”!
I’ve been working hard on the complete product but wanted to give you a sample
of it. Some of the Modules in the final product include:
- 50 page Ebook on the Excel Functions
- 2 hours of video explaining the functions
- Document to teach how to Nest If statements
- Short Ebook and videos on Advanced Nested Functions
- Real World Examples on Excel Functions
- Questions to help you learn
- And more
This launches February 4th, 2015! I will email you more information on this as it
gets closer along with how to get it at a cheaper price.
***If you have any question on Excel Functions or troubles you have with them
that you would like included in this training, please email them to
So until then, I hope you enjoy this free preview…
Thanks!
Joe
http://excelbyjoe.com/excelfunctions
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ABS Function This function will give you the absolute value of a number.
Number – This is the number that you want the absolute value for. It can be a reference or a number
Column B are the results. Column C is the formula.
Examples:
In cell B2 – We want to find the absolute value of the number in cell A1. So we
used the formula =ABS(A1). So it gives you the absolute value of 33.4 which is
33.4.
In cell B3 – We want to find the absolute value of the number in cell A2. So we
used the formula =ABS(A2). So it gives you the absolute value of -22 which is 22.
In cell B4 – We want to find the absolute value of 11. So we used the formula
=ABS(11). So it gives you the absolute value of 11 which is 11.
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AND Function This is a logical function that only returns TRUE or FALSE. If all criteria asked in the function
are TRUE, then this returns a TRUE. Otherwise it returns a FALSE.
In this example, we want to see if each person scored over 200 in ALL games. So we put the
AND function in cells E2 to E5 because the AND function requires ALL items to be TRUE
So we go to E2 and go to the wizard.
Logical1 : This is our first test. Is cell B2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
Logical2 : This is our first test. Is cell C2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
Logical3 : This is our first test. Is cell D2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
=AND(B2>200,C2>200,D2>200)
The total formula returns a FALSE because not all of the results were TRUE. In cell E4, when
we check if B4, C4 and D4 are greater than 200, since they all are, E4 would be TRUE.
=AND(B4>200,C4>200,D4>200) equals TRUE
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AVERAGE Function This function will give the average to whatever cells you tell it to.
Number1 – This is the range of cells you want averaged.
If you had another range of cells, you would put it in Number2.
In cell B6 we have the formula =AVERAGE(B2:B5). Excel will average all the cells from B2 to
B5. The result is 83. Instead of a range, you can put a Named Range in there, if you have one
named. You also can have multiple ranges. For example, you could have
=AVERAGE(B2:B5,C2:C5)
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CHOOSE Function This function will choose a value from a supplied list, based on a number you give.
Index num – This is the relative number of item to choose from the values supplied. If we put
a 2, we choose Value2
Value1,2,3… – These are the choices that you would choose between
Example 1 In cell B1 we have the formula CHOOSE(1,"Joe","Jim","Tom") to choose between
Joe, Jim or Tom. The first part is a 1, so it means we choose the first choice, which is Joe.
Example 2 In cell B2 we have the formula CHOOSE(A2,"Joe","Jim","Tom") to choose between
Joe, Jim or Tom. The first part is a A2. A2 has a 2 in it, so it means we choose the 2nd option
which is Jim
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CONCATENATE Function This function will combine multiple cells of your choice into one cell. However, it is easier to
just use the & symbol to combine. I will give examples of both.
We use 3 examples here.
Row 2: CONCATENATE(A2,"-",B2,"-",C2) – The wizard let’s us pick which cells we want to combine. Text1
we use cell A2. Then we want a dash to appear, as we are making a new cell which looks like a phone number.
We continue down the line until we get 716-555-1234
Row 3: A3&"-"&B3&"-"&C3 – Instead of using CONCATENATE which is long to type, we can simply type in
the formula . We basically put anything we want and then use the “&” symbol to combine the fields. If we
want to add text that isn’t a reference, we need to put it in parenthesis, like above where we put a dash in
parenthesis. The result is the same as Row 2, but without writing the word CONCATENATE.
Row 4: A4&" "&B4&" "&C4 – This is the same as row 3, but we add in “ “ so we put spaces in between the
names. We would do the same thing if we used CONCATENATE. Our result is John Dale Smith.
The only advantage I see to using CONCATENATE is you can use the wizard, but it’s not a big advantage. I just
include this function to show you that cells can easily be combined and this gives you two methods to do it.
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COUNT Function This function will count how many cells contain a number or a date.
Value1 – This is the range of cells you want
check. If you had another range of cells, you would put it in Value2.
In our example, we have our formula in A8, which is =COUNT(A1:A6). This will look at those
cells and return the number of cells that are numbers or dates. It returns a 3 because there
are numbers in A2 and A5 and a date in A4.
It will not count anything else.
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COUNTA Function This function will count how many cells are not blank.
Value1 – This is the range of cells you want check. If you had another range of cells, you would put it in Value2.
In our example, we have our formula in A8, which is =COUNTA(A1:A7). This will look at those
cells and return the number of cells that are not blank. So it will look at those cells and see
there are 5 cells with data in them, so it returns a 5.
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COUNTBLANK Function This function will count how many cells are blank.
RANGE – This is the range of cells you want check.
In our example, we have our formula in A8, which is =COUNTBLANK(A1:A7). This will look at
those cells and return the number of cells that are blank. So it will look at those cells and see
there are 2 cells with NO data in them, so it returns a 2.
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COUNTIF Function This function will return the number of cells in your range that match a specific criteria.
Range – This is the range of cells you want check.
Criteria – This is what Excel is checking on each item in the Range
We use 2 examples. Column B is the results and column C shows the formula in Column B
Row 10 – How many students scored of 65? We use the formula =COUNTIF(B2:B8,”>65”) So
what this does is it checks all the cells in B2 to B8 for the criteria mentioned. That criteria is
>65. So it will Count all the cells that have a number over 65. The result is 5.
Row 11 – How many students are named Joe? We use the formula =COUNTIF(A2:A8,”Joe”)
So what this does is it checks all the cells in A2 to A8 for the criteria mentioned. We check
column A because that is where the names are located. That criteria is if it is “Joe” So it will
Count all the cells if it contains “Joe”. The result is 3.
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COUNTIFS Function This function will Count the cells in your range that match multiple criteria.
Criteria_range1 – This is the first range of what Excel is to look at. A2:A10. We want to look at
Student names
Criteria1 – This is the criteria we want to find in the Criteria Range 1. We are looking for “Joe”
in A2:A10. It finds 3 instances.
Criteria_range2 – This is the second range of what Excel is to look at. B2:B10. We want to
look at the Classes
Criteria2 – This is the criteria we want to find in the Criteria Range 2. We are looking for
“Math” in B2:B10. It finds 4 instances. However only 2 instances match “Joe” and “Math”.
So our final result is 2.
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EXACT Function This function will test two strings and tell you if they Exactly match or not.
Col C is the result and Col D is the formula that’s in Col C
In C1, we want to check if A1 matches B1. Since joe equals joe, then the result is true.
Everything matches.
In C2, we want to check if A2 matches B2. 123.4 does not match 123, so we get FALSE.
In C3, we want to check if A3 equals B3. Excel does NOT match excel because one is
capitalized and one isn’t. So we get FALSE.
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Find Function This function will find a character or string in a cell and return it’s position. It IS case sensitive.
Use SEARCH function if you want it NOT Case Sensitive.
Column B are the results. Column C is the formula.
Find_Text – this is the character or string or number we want to Find
Within_Text – this is the cell we are looking in
Start_num – Optional – this is the character you want to start looking in. If you don’t put
anything, it starts at the first character.
Examples:
In cell B1, we want to find the word “Joe” in cell A1, which is “Excel by Joe”. So we have the
formula =FIND("Joe",A1) . This is case sensitive and will look for the word “Joe” in cell A1. It
returns a 10 because “Joe” starts at the 10th character.
In cell B2, we want to find the letter ”e” in cell A2, which is “Excel by Joe” So we have the
formula =FIND("e",A2) . This is case sensitive and will look for the small letter “e” in cell A1. It
skips over the large E and goes to the first small “e”, character 4.
In cell B3, we want to find the letter “j” in cell A3, which is “Excel by Joe” So we have the
formula =FIND("j",A3) . This is case sensitive and will look for the letter “j” in cell A3. It only
finds a large J but no small “j” so it returns an error.
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FIXED Function This function will turn a number in text and round it to the number of decimal places you
specify
Number: This is the number you want rounded
Decimals: How many decimal spots you want to
round the number to
No_commas: True if you don’t want commas.
False or leave blank if you want commas
We use 5 examples here. The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
Row 2: FIXED(A2,1) - Here we are taking the number is A2 and rounding it to 1 decimal place. Since we
didn’t include anything in the last part, it defaults to False, which means there will be a comma. Result:
14,914.2
Row 3: FIXED(A3,2) - Here we are taking the number is A3 and rounding it to 2 decimal places. Since we
didn’t include anything in the last part, it defaults to False, which means there will be a comma. Result:
14,914.22
Row 4: FIXED(A4,3) - Here we are taking the number is A4 and rounding it to 3 decimal places. Since we
didn’t include anything in the last part, it defaults to False, which means there will be a comma. Result:
14,914.216
Row 5: FIXED(A5,2,TRUE) - Here we are taking the number is A5 and rounding it to 2 decimal places. Since
we put TRUE as the last part, there will be no comma. Result: 14914.22
Row 6: FIXED(A6,2,FALSE) - Here we are taking the number is A6 and rounding it to 2 decimal places. Since
we put FALSE as the last part, there will be a comma. Result: 14,914.22
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HLOOKUP Function This function will search a table by row for an item you choose and then pull in a
corresponding cell related to it.
In this example we want to pull Joe’s English score from the main table array of student names on the top and classes on the left.
Lookup Value – This is the item we are looking up. In this example, it is “joe”, which is the
student name. We could also use a reference if we have that name somewhere.
Table Array – This is the table we are looking in. In this example it is A1:E5. You have to make
sure the Top column headings contains the item you are looking for, which is “Joe”.
Row Index num – This is the Row number of the table array. We picked 3 because we want
the 3rd row of the main table, which is the English Scores. If we wanted Math pulled in, we
would use a 2.
Range Lookup – This is asking if you want an exact match or not. If you want to find the exact
name in the table, which we do, we use FALSE. If you put TRUE, it will look for the exact match
but If it can’t find it, it will pull in the next closest match.
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IF Function This function will let you choose a True/False criteria and then give you a different result,
depending on if the answer is True or False
Here we have 3 students with Math and English grades. In column D we want to tell if their
Math score or English score is higher.
Logical Test – this is the criteria we are checking
Value if true – If the logical Test is equal to True, then this will become the result
Value if false – If the logical test is equal to False, then this will become the result
If cell D2 we have the formula = IF(B2>C2,"Math is higher","English is higher")
So we want to see if cell B2(Math grade) is higher than cell C2 (English grade)
If it is, we do the True result, which is ”Math is higher”
If it is false, we do the False result, which is ”English is higher”
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INDEX Function This function will return a cell or range of cells within a given array
Array – This is the array we want to look in to find our cell or cells
Row num – This is what row in the array we want to pull Column num - – This is what column in the array we want to pull
Example 1 – For this example, we use the formula =INDEX(A1:B$,3,2) in cell C1. This means
our initial array is A1 to B4. So we start at the upper left of it, A1. The next number in our
formula is a 3, so we go to the 3rd row in this array. Then over to the 2nd column in this array.
So we are at cell B3 and this is what pulls into the formula, which is 3.
Example 2 – For this example, we use the formula =SUM(INDEX(A1:B4,3,0)) in cell C2. We
want to sum up everything in this new array. Our initial array is A1 to B4. So we start at the
upper left of it, A1. The next number in our formula is a 3, so we go to the 3rd row in this array.
Then the next number is a 0. If there is a 0 in the Row_num or Col_num, that means it pulls
everything. So for this example, our new array would be A3:B3. This sums to 9.
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ISBLANK Function This function will tell you if a cell is blank by displaying TRUE.
Text This is the cell you want to
check if it is blank
The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
In cell B2, we have the formula =ISBLANK(A2). We are checking if cell A2 is blank. If it is, it
returns TRUE. If there is anything in there, it returns FALSE. In this case, A2 has words in it, so
it returns FALSE. Only cell A4 is blank, so that is why cell B4 would say TRUE.
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ISERROR Function This function will tell you if you have an error message in a cell by displaying TRUE.
Text This is the string you want
to check for an error
The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
In cell B2 we have the formula =ISERROR(A2). This function will look at A2 and check if it
contains an error message. In this case, it does not, so it returns a FALSE. In cells B4 to B6, it
comes up as TRUE, so the cells A4 to A6 contain errors.
The errors is checks for are #N/A,#VALUE!,#REF!,#DIV/0!,#NUM!,#NAME?, or #NULL!
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ISNA Function This function will tell you if you have an #N/A result in a cell. This basically tells you there is an
error in the formula.
Text This is the string you want to
check for #N/A
The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
The function in B2 is =ISNA(A2) so it checks A2 and looks if it is #N/A. A2 is not, so it returns
FASLE. It checks all the way down column A and in cell A4 there is #N/A, so the function in B4
returns a TRUE.
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LARGE Function This function will find the nth smallest value in a group of cells. That means you tell it if you
want the 2nd smallest, 3rd, 4th and so on.
Array: The range of cells we are looking in
K: This is the nth largest value we want to pull. If we have 3 in there, we want the 3rd
largest value.
In this example, we have a group of numbers and dates.
Column B: We use the formula =LARGE(B2:B11,3) so Excel will look in the cells in this range
from B2 to B11 and pull in the 3rd largest amount since we have a 3 in the second part of the
argument. Excel pulls in 83.
Column C: We use the formula =LARGE(C2:C11,2) so Excel will look in the cells in this range
from C2 to C11 and pull in the 2nd largest amount since we have a 2 in the second part of the
argument. Excel pulls in 90.
Column D: We use the formula =LARGE(D2:D11,3) so Excel will look in the cells in this range of
dates from D2 to D11 and pull in the 3rd largest amount since we have a 3 in the second part of
the argument. Excel pulls in Oct 3.
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LEFT Function This function will pull in any number of characters from the left side of a text string.
Text This is the string you want to pull the characters from
Num_chars: How many characters do you want to pull from
the left side of the string
We use 3 examples here. The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
Row 2: LEFT(A2,4) - Here we are taking the text in A2, “Excel by Joe” and pulling the left 4
characters, since we use a 4 in the second part of this argument. Result is “Exce”
Row 3: LEFT(A3,6) - Here we are taking the text in A3, “515 Main Street” and pulling the left
6 characters, since we use a 6 in the second part of this argument. Result is “515 Ma”. Note
that the space after 515 is included in the count of 6 characters.
Row 4: LEFT(A4,3) - Here we are taking the text in A4, 24314 and pulling the left 3
characters, since we use a 3 in the second part of this argument. Result is 243. Even though
24314 is a number, the result of this function is always Text.
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LEN Function This function will tell you how many characters are in a cell.
Text This is the string you want
to count the characters
We use 2 examples here. The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
Row 2 – The formula we use in cell B2 is =LEN(A2). We want to count how many charters are
in cell A2. This includes spaces and punctuation.
Row 3 – The formula we use in cell B2 is =LEN(A3). We want to count how many charters are
in cell A3. This includes spaces and punctuation and numbers.
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LOWER Function This function will convert all the letters in a string to upper case.
Text This is the string you
want to change to lower
letters
We use 1 example here. The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
Row 2 – The formula we use in cell B2 is =LOWER(A2). So we are taking what is in A2, which is
“244 West Tupper BLVD.” and making all the letters lower case. It doesn’t affect numbers or
punctuation. The result is “244 west tupper blvd.”.
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MATCH Function This function will return the relative position of a value in an array. You can choose to find an
exact match or next closest match.
Lookup_value – This is what we are looking for. It can be text or numbers. Can also use an *
or ? as a wildcard.
Lookup array – This is the array where we are looking at to find the value
Match Type – 0 for Exact Match. 1 for next closest below. -1 for next closest above
Row 3 Example - MATCH(24,A3:A10,0) We are looking up the number 24 in the array A3:A10.
The last part is 0, so we want exact match. 24 is the 3rd number from the top.
Row 4 Example - MATCH(“j*”,A3:A11,0) We are looking up any text that begins with a “j” in
the array A3:A11. “joe” is the 4th number from the top.
Row 5 Example - MATCH(90,A3:A11,1) We are looking up the number 90 in the array A3:A11.
1 at the end means we are looking for the next number below 90 if no exact match, which is
88.
Row 6 Example - MATCH(90,A3:A11,0) We are looking up the number 90 in the array A3:A11.
We want exact match because the last part is a 0 in the formula. With no exact match, we get
#N/A
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MAX Function This function will find the largest value in a group of cells. This group of cells can be numbers
or arrays or dates.
In this example, we have a group of numbers and dates.
Column B: We use the formula =MAX(B2:B11) so Excel will look in the cells in this range and
pull in the largest amount, which is 98
Column C: We use the formula =MAX(C2:C11) so Excel will look in the cells in this range of
dates and pull in the largest amount, which is October 6.
Excel also allows us to put a variable at the end to compare the results to and Excel will put in
the largest result.
Column D: Here we use the formula =MAX(D2:D11,80). So Excel looks in d2 to d11 and pulls
out the highest value of 98 and compares to 80. Since 98 is higher, it outputs 98.
Column E: Here we use the formula =MAX(E2:E11,110). So Excel looks in e2 to e11 and pulls
out the highest value of 98 and compares to 110. Since 110 is higher, it outputs 110.
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MID Function This function will pull in any number of characters from the left side of a text string.
Text This is the string you want to pull the characters from
Start_num – This is the character you want to start pulling
from. If you put 7, you start at the 7th character.
Num_chars: How many characters do you want to pull from
the string
We use 2 examples here. The result is in column B and the function is next to it in column C.
Row 2: MID(A2,7,2) - Here we are taking the text in A2, “Excel by Joe”. That is the first part
of the formula. The second part is a 7 which is the Start_num. That means we want to start
pulling characters from the 7th character. That 7th character is a “b”. Spaces count as
characters. Then the last part of the formula is a 2, which means we want to pull 2 characters.
So starting from the b, we would pull “by”.
Row 3: MID(A3,5,3) - Here we are taking the text in A3, 716-555-1234. That is the first part
of the formula. The second part is a 5, which is the start num. That means we want to start
pulling characters from the 5th character which is a 5. Dashes count as characters. Then the
last part of the formula is a 3, which means we want to pull 3 characters. So that means we
will be pulling the 555.
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MIN Function This function will find the smallest value in a group of cells. This group of cells can be numbers
or arrays or dates. Opposite of the MAX function.
In this example, we have a group of numbers and dates.
Column B: We use the formula =MIN(B2:B11) so Excel will look in the cells in this range and
pull in the smallest amount, which is 56
Column C: We use the formula =MIN(C2:C11) so Excel will look in the cells in this range of
dates and pull in the smallest amount, which is April 4.
Excel also allows us to put a variable at the end to compare the results to and Excel will put in
the largest result.
Column D: Here we use the formula =MIN(D2:D11,80). So Excel looks in d2 to d11 and pulls
out the smallest value of 56 and compares to 80. Since 56 is smaller, it outputs 56.
Column E: Here we use the formula =MIN(E2:E11,40). So Excel looks in e2 to e11 and pulls out
the smallest value of 56 and compares to 40. Since 40 is lower, it outputs 40.
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NOW Function This function will put today’s date and time into a cell. It is dynamic as it will change as the day
and time changes.
The Now function will put in today’s date and time. There are no variables that need to go
into it. This will change when the date and time change.
The output defaults to ##/##/#### #:## You can change the formatting.
In cell A1, we put the formula you see in cell B2, which is =Now(). If you use the wizard, you
get the message above on the right, where it says this Function takes no arguments.
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OFFSET Function This function will return a cell or range of cells
Reference – This is our starting point. Can be one cell or an array. Rows – This is how many rows we want to move the cursor up or down Cols - This is how many rows we want to move the cursor left or right
Height – This is how high you want the new array. If it’s blank, it is the same height as the original reference Width - – This is how wide you want the new array. If it’s blank, it is the same wide as the original reference
Column B are the results and Column C is the formula in Col B
Example 1 – For this example, we want to find Jeff’s hours on Monday. We used
the formula =OFFSET(A3,2,1). So our reference or starting point is A3. Rows is 2,
so we go down 2 rows to A5. If we used a negative number, we would move up.
Then Cols is 1, so we go over 1 column to B5. Since we don’t have height or width
populate, we leave the range the size of the reference which is one cell. So this
returns the value in B5, which is 8.
Example 2 – We can use this function inside of other functions. Say we want to
add up all of Jeff’s hours, we can use the formula =SUM(OFFSET(A3,2,1,1,4)). This
will add up the hours in our new range. So for this Offset formula, we start at cell
A3. We go down 2 rows and then to the right one column, to B5. We have height
and width filled in, so height is a 1 and width is a 4. So this new array starts at B5
and goes to B8. This formula adds up B5:B8, so the result is 24.
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OR Function This is a logical function that only returns TRUE or FALSE. If any of the criteria asked in the
function are TRUE, then this returns a TRUE. Otherwise it returns a FALSE.
In this example, we want to see if each person scored over 200 in ANY game. So we put the
OR function in cells E2 to E5 because the OR function requires just one item to be TRUE
So we go to E2 and go to the wizard.
Logical1 : This is our first test. Is cell B2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
Logical2 : This is our first test. Is cell C2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
Logical3 : This is our first test. Is cell D2 greater than 200. Result is FALSE.
=OR(B2>200,C2>200,D2>200) equals FALSE
The total formula returns a FALSE because none of the results were TRUE. In cell E4, when we
check if B3, C3 and D3 are greater than 200, since one of them is, E3 would be TRUE.
=OR(B3>200,C3>200,D3>200) equals TRUE