On Fri, 2005-04-15 at 16:13 -0500, Peter Kupfer wrote: > Rick Barnes wrote: > > On Fri, 2005-04-15 at 04:13 -0400, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > >>Uhhmm... what's the differnece? Most people who know those terms use > >>them > >>interchangably. > > > > > > A formula is an expression like "=(4*3)+2" or "=A1+B1"...formulas begin > > with an equal sign that designates them as a formula. > > > > A function is a predefined procedure that returns a value based on > > values (arguments or parameters) passed to it. Formulas can contain > > functions. > > > > This could be made a little clearer, but they are not synonymous. > > > > > IMO, this really isn't very important, perhaps a mention of it, but > functionally (no pun intended) I don't see a real difference. Is there one? > Probably not...to many, and it may seem trivial. But if cells A1 through E1 each contain the value 1:
1) =A1:E1 returns 1
2) =A1+B1+C1+D1+E1 returns 5
3) =SUM(A1:E1) returns 5
Example number one "appears" to be a formula, and it is, though not
correct. Example two is a formula and number three is a function used in
a formula. Both examples two and three do the same thing, but by using a
function three is more efficient...and easier for many to understand.
Below is a formula I wrote for my FOSS Cost Model spreadsheet, it
produces the Discounted Return on Investment (ROI), a blank cell (if
there is no data to compute) or "N/A" if not applicable to the inputted
data:
=IF(ISBLANK(System_1),"",IF(AND(OR(Period={1,3,4,5}),ISNUMBER((SUM($M
$12:OFFSET($M$12,0,0,Period,1))+SUM($M$21:OFFSET($M
$21,0,0,Period,1)))/ABS(SUM($M$21:OFFSET($M$21,0,0,Period,1))))),
(SUM($M$12:OFFSET($M$12,0,0,Period,1))+SUM($M$21:OFFSET($M
$21,0,0,Period,1)))/ABS(SUM($M$21:OFFSET($M$21,0,0,Period,1))),"N/A"))
Now that is a formula...one that contains 18(?) functions. But maybe you
are right the point is trivial...
On another subject...what do you think about adding brackets to the
function syntax in the Function Description Appendix to highlight the
optional arguments?
--
Regards,
Rick Barnes
www.nostabo.net
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