Some advanced functions of Microsoft Excel

ROUND

FORECAST

GROWTH

DSUM

ROUND
The first thing to understand is that Excel will display values with any number of decimals
we choose. So for instance, if we have the value 100.4587 in a cell, we can choose to format
it to print only 2 decimals, so that what is displayed is 100.46. This can be confusing to users
since they don't see the true value. It can also be a problem, particularly with currency
values, with a column of figures not balancing to the total below. Accountants hate this ! Of
course, if we choose to display more decimal places, the sum below will balance to the
column above. The displayed value is rounded but the actual value is still multiple decimals.

What the ROUND function does is to force the number of decimals in the actual figure. So
in our example above, the 100.4587 would be forced to round to 100.46, which means the
displayed value is the same as the actual value.

The format of the ROUND function is :-

=ROUND (formula, number of decimals)

In the example below, cell C2 is formatted to display 4 decimals.

If the actual contents of cells A1 thru C2 are :-

A B C
1 HOURS WORKED RATE OF PAY GROSS PAY
2 37.5 12.485 =A2*B2

Then the displayed values will be :-

A B C
1 HOURS WORKED RATE OF PAY GROSS PAY
2 37.5 12.485 468.1875

If we now change cell C2 as follows :-

A B C
1 HOURS WORKED RATE OF PAY GROSS PAY
2 37.5 12.485 =ROUND(A2*B2,2)

Then the displayed values will be :-

A B C
1 HOURS WORKED RATE OF PAY GROSS PAY
2 37.5 12.485 468.1900

Ed Bailey/BusComp/Ed/Advanced Excel Functions 16/03/01 Page 1

FORECAST
This function is used to predict a new value based on a set of existing values. For instance, if
we have historical figures for sales for 5 years, we can predict what the following year sales
will be (assuming there is a trend). you must remember that a graph has an x axis (the
horizontal line) and a y axis (the vertical line).

1200
Y AXIS (SALES

1000
VALUES)

800
600 SALES
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 5
X AXIS (YEARS)

Let's assume we have a spreadsheet with the values below :-

A B C D E F
1 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 50 200 350 600 1000

The existing x values are the ones in cells A1 thru E1.

The existing y values are the ones in cells A2 thru E2.
The new x value (the one for which we want to calculate the new y value) is in cell F1.
The new y value is going to be in cell F2, and this is where we want the formula.

the format of the function is :-

=FORECAST(new x value, existing y values range, existing x values range)

so our entry in cell F2 will be =FORECAST(F1,A2:E2,A1:E1)

1200
Y AXIS (SALES

1000
VALUE)

800
600 SALES
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
X AXIS (YEARS)

Notice the new value in the graph for year 6. The value is really an averaged estimate based
on the preceding 5 years. If we wanted something a little more realistic in this case (because
of the exponential nature of the curve) we might be better off using the GROWTH function.

Ed Bailey/BusComp/Ed/Advanced Excel Functions 16/03/01 Page 2

GROWTH
This function is very similar to FORECAST. We still need to specify the x range, the y
range, and the new x value. The differences are that the parameters are given in a different
order, and that the prediction is sensitive to exponential curves.

The format is :

=GROWTH (existing y values range, existing x values range, new x value)

Using the previous example, our formula in cell F2 would be =GROWTH(A2:E2,A1:E1,F1)

This would produce :

2000
Y AXIS (SALES

1500
VALUE)

1000 SALES
500
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
X AXIS (YEARS)

Notice the new y value, which follows the curve exponentially.

Ed Bailey/BusComp/Ed/Advanced Excel Functions 16/03/01 Page 3

DSUM
This function is used to accumulate a total of selected values in a list. For instance, if we had
a set of values by department codes, we could get a total of just the department X values.
The format of the DSUM function is :-

=DSUM(data-range,column-id,criteria cells)

where "data-range" is the address of the database area including the field headings
"column-id" can be the column heading name in inverted commas, or a number
indicating the appropriate column within the database
"criteria cells" indicates the address of the cells containing the selection criteria

A B C
1 DEPT VALUE
2 Y 20
3 X 40
4 Y 10
5 Z 60
6 X 50
7 Z 30
8 X 80
9
10 DEPT
11 X
12

The formula to accumulate the total of department X values is :-

=DSUM(A1:B8,"VALUE",A10:A11) or =DSUM(A1:B8,2,A10:A11)

This could be placed in any desired cell, but let's choose C10

It should produce the total 170 (40+50+80) in cell C10.

If we changed cell A11 to Y, the total in C10 would show 30 (20+10).

If we changed cell A11 to Z, the total in C10 would show 90 (60+30)

Ed Bailey/BusComp/Ed/Advanced Excel Functions 16/03/01 Page 4