What's the Current Date or Time?
You may be familiar with Excel's NOW function, which plugs the current date and time into your spreadsheet. Just enter =NOW() into any cell, and Excel displays the date and time formatted according to the regional options you've set for Windows. If you just want to see the date, use the TODAY function, =TODAY(), instead.
But if you want to use either of these functions as a type of "timestamp" you'll find that they don't do the job, because they're automatically updated whenever your worksheet is calculated or re-opened. The cell that displays today's date will display tomorrow's date when you open the spreadsheet tomorrow.
To insert a fixed date into a cell--a date that you don't want to change--hold down Ctrl while you press the semicolon ( ;) key. To insert the current time (without a date), press Ctrl-Shift-Semicolon.
These commands are useful if you like to document your work. For example, you might want to keep track of when you added new data to your worksheet.
Showing posts with label calculation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calculation. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Quick Math Without Formulas
Quick Math Without Formulas
If you want to do math with Excel, your only choice is to write formulas, right? Wrong! Get familiar with Excel's Paste Function dialog box, and learn how to perform a variety of basic math operations without a single formula. Consider this scenario: Your company's product price list stored in a worksheet. Your boss informs you that, effective immediately, all prices must be increased by 5 percent.
You could create some formulas to do the math, and then convert the formulas to values, and then copy and paste the new prices over the old prices. Or, you could use this more efficient method:
1. Enter 1.05 into any blank cell. This is the "multiplier" that will increase the prices by 5 percent.
2. Select the cell you used in Step 1, and choose Edit, Copy or press Ctrl-C.
3. Select the range of values to be changed, and choose Edit, Paste Special to display the Paste Special dialog box.
4. Choose the Multiply option and click OK.
Voilà! The values are changed in an instant. You can then delete the cell that contains the 1.05 multiplier.
Note that the Paste Special dialog box lets you carry out other mathematical operations--like add and subtract, for instance--so you can use this technique for a variety of other calculations.
If you want to do math with Excel, your only choice is to write formulas, right? Wrong! Get familiar with Excel's Paste Function dialog box, and learn how to perform a variety of basic math operations without a single formula. Consider this scenario: Your company's product price list stored in a worksheet. Your boss informs you that, effective immediately, all prices must be increased by 5 percent.
You could create some formulas to do the math, and then convert the formulas to values, and then copy and paste the new prices over the old prices. Or, you could use this more efficient method:
1. Enter 1.05 into any blank cell. This is the "multiplier" that will increase the prices by 5 percent.
2. Select the cell you used in Step 1, and choose Edit, Copy or press Ctrl-C.
3. Select the range of values to be changed, and choose Edit, Paste Special to display the Paste Special dialog box.
4. Choose the Multiply option and click OK.
Voilà! The values are changed in an instant. You can then delete the cell that contains the 1.05 multiplier.
Note that the Paste Special dialog box lets you carry out other mathematical operations--like add and subtract, for instance--so you can use this technique for a variety of other calculations.