Chapter 3 – Logical and Lookup Functions

Going beyond the basic computational tools of Excel unlocks unlimited potential for processing and analyzing data. This chapter takes you beyond basic Excel computations by introducing logical functions and lookup functions. Logical functions are used to assess the contents within cell locations and produce custom outputs or mathematical computations. We will look at two types of logical functions in this chapter. The first is the IF function, which uses a logical test to evaluate the contents in a cell location. The OR and AND functions also use logical tests to evaluate the contents in a cell location and are often used within the IF function. The second type of logical function that we will look at are statistical IF functions. These functions combine the logical test feature of the IF function with the mathematical computation features of statistical functions (which were reviewed in Chapter 2 “Mathematical Computations”). The last section of this chapter demonstrates the use of two lookup functions. These functions are used to find data in one worksheet and display it in another. We will demonstrate the skills for this chapter through the construction of a personal investment portfolio.

This theme builds on the personal budget project introduced in Chapter 2 “Mathematical Computations”. In the personal budget project, we analyzed the impact of investing money in an account that provides a continuous rate of return. In this chapter, we look at how you can decide where to invest your money and how to analyze the performance of those investments.