🧮 Top 50 Excel Formulas You Must Know (With Examples)

Top 50 Excel Formulas

Microsoft Excel is more than just a spreadsheet tool — it’s the backbone of modern data analysis, budgeting, and reporting. Whether you’re an analyst, student, accountant, or business owner, mastering Excel formulas can save you hours of manual work and make you look like a data wizard.

Here’s a curated list of the top 50 Excel formulas every professional should know — from basic arithmetic to advanced lookups and logic functions.

🔹 Basic Excel Formulas

1. SUM – Adds up a range of numbers.
   =SUM(A1:A10)
2. AVERAGE – Calculates the average of numbers.
   =AVERAGE(B1:B10)
3. MIN – Finds the smallest number in a range.
   =MIN(C1:C10)
4. MAX – Finds the largest number in a range.
   =MAX(C1:C10)
5. COUNT – Counts cells with numeric values.
   =COUNT(A1:A100)
6. COUNTA – Counts non-empty cells.
   =COUNTA(A1:A100)
7. ROUND – Rounds a number to a specified number of digits.
   =ROUND(A1, 2)
8. ROUNDUP – Always rounds up.
   =ROUNDUP(A1, 0)
9. ROUNDDOWN – Always rounds down.
   =ROUNDDOWN(A1, 0)
10. ABS – Returns the absolute value of a number.
    =ABS(A1)

🔹 Text Formulas

11. CONCATENATE (or CONCAT) – Joins text strings together.
    =CONCAT(A1, ” “, B1)
12. TEXTJOIN – Joins text with a delimiter.
    =TEXTJOIN(“, “, TRUE, A1:A5)
13. LEFT – Extracts characters from the left side of a string.
    =LEFT(A1, 3)
14. RIGHT – Extracts characters from the right side.
    =RIGHT(A1, 4)
15. MID – Extracts text from the middle of a string.
    =MID(A1, 2, 5)
16. LEN – Counts the number of characters in a cell.
    =LEN(A1)
17. TRIM – Removes extra spaces.
    =TRIM(A1)
18. UPPER – Converts text to uppercase.
    =UPPER(A1)
19. LOWER – Converts text to lowercase.
    =LOWER(A1)
20. PROPER – Capitalizes the first letter of each word.
    =PROPER(A1)

🔹 Logical Formulas

21. IF – Returns one value if true, another if false.
    =IF(A1>100, “High”, “Low”)
22. IFS – Tests multiple conditions.
    =IFS(A1>90,”A”, A1>80,”B”, A1>70,”C”)
23. AND – Tests if all conditions are TRUE.
    =AND(A1>50, B1<100)
24. OR – Tests if any condition is TRUE.
    =OR(A1>50, B1<100)
25. NOT – Reverses a logical value.
    =NOT(A1>10)
26. IFERROR – Returns a value if an error occurs.
    =IFERROR(A1/B1, “Error”)

🔹 Lookup & Reference Formulas

27. VLOOKUP – Searches vertically in a range.
    =VLOOKUP(A1, B1:D10, 3, FALSE)
28. HLOOKUP – Searches horizontally.
    =HLOOKUP(A1, A2:F3, 2, FALSE)
29. INDEX – Returns a value from a specific row and column.
    =INDEX(A1:C10, 2, 3)
30. MATCH – Returns the position of a value in a range.
    =MATCH(“Apple”, A1:A10, 0)
31. XLOOKUP – A modern replacement for VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP.
    =XLOOKUP(A1, B1:B10, C1:C10, “Not Found”)
32. OFFSET – Returns a reference offset from a starting cell.
    =OFFSET(A1, 2, 3)
33. CHOOSE – Picks a value from a list based on an index.
    =CHOOSE(2, “Red”, “Blue”, “Green”)

🔹 Date & Time Formulas

34. TODAY – Returns the current date.
    =TODAY()
35. NOW – Returns the current date and time.
    =NOW()
36. DAY – Extracts the day from a date.
    =DAY(A1)
37. MONTH – Extracts the month.
    =MONTH(A1)
38. YEAR – Extracts the year.
    =YEAR(A1)
39. DATEDIF – Calculates the difference between two dates.
    =DATEDIF(A1, B1, “Y”)
40. EDATE – Returns a date a number of months before or after a date.
    =EDATE(A1, 6)

🔹 Financial Formulas

41. PMT – Calculates loan payments.
    =PMT(rate, nper, pv)
42. FV – Calculates future value of an investment.
    =FV(rate, nper, pmt, pv)
43. NPV – Calculates net present value.
    =NPV(rate, values)
44. IRR – Returns the internal rate of return.
    =IRR(A1:A10)

🔹 Statistical & Math Formulas

45. RANK – Ranks a number in a list.
    =RANK(A1, A1:A10)
46. MEDIAN – Finds the middle value.
    =MEDIAN(A1:A10)
47. MODE – Finds the most frequent value.
    =MODE(A1:A10)
48. STDEV – Calculates standard deviation.
    =STDEV(A1:A10)
49. VAR – Calculates variance.
    =VAR(A1:A10)
50. SUBTOTAL – Performs calculations on filtered data.
    =SUBTOTAL(9, A1:A10) (9 = SUM, 1 = AVERAGE, etc.)

💡 Bonus Tips

• Use Ctrl + ` (backtick) to toggle between formulas and values.
• Combine formulas for powerful automation (e.g., IFERROR(VLOOKUP(…))).
• Use named ranges to make formulas easier to read.

🚀 Final Thoughts

Mastering Excel formulas isn’t just about memorizing functions — it’s about understanding how to combine them to solve real-world problems efficiently. Start with the basics, practice regularly, and soon you’ll be automating reports and dashboards like a pro.

🔹 Excel Statistical &#038; Math Formulas for Beginners (With Easy Examples)

MS Excel Formula from MS office Website