WHAT ARE LOGICAL FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL?

If you're tempted to skip this article because the word "Logical" sounds complex in the context of Excel, I encourage you to hang tight. You'd probably agree as you continue reading that it's not.

Logical Functions Explained

Logical functions check to see whether something is true or not true and perform one action if that something is true and another action if that something is not true or false. Let's use a common household item to illustrate this. Let's say you turn on your electric kettle to boil some water so that you can make your favourite tea. When the water starts to boil, the kettle turns off but as long as it is not boiling the kettle continues to heat up. So when one condition is true (which is when the water is boiling) the kettle turns off but when that condition is not true the kettle continues to heat up. No doubt, you're grateful that your electric kettle can do this instead of having that water totally evaporate or worst yet result in a fire due to the kettle overheating. Excel has the same functionality within its logical functions and if you're not using these you're probably missing out and spending too long on tasks.

The IF function is perhaps the most used logical function in Excel. It's a great idea to first learn the IF function before you learn other logical functions. This is because the concept of the IF function is applicable to all logical functions.

The IF Function Explained

The IF function checks to see whether a condition is true or not and returns one specified result if that condition is true and another specified result if that condition is not true. The function requires the following:

1. logical_test - this is the condition that you're checking to see whether it's true or not.
2. value_if_true - this is the result you want to return if the condition is true.
3. value_if_false - this is the result you want to return if the condition is not true.

In the example below the IF function is being used to check to see if the students scored less than 50 (the logical_test). If they scored less than 50 "Fail" (value_if_true) will be returned. But if they did not, "Pass" (value_if_false) will be returned.

Learn Comparison Operators

When using logical functions you will often find that you require a comparison operator. Here are a list of comparison operators you should memorize and what they mean in the table below.

Other commonly used logical functions in Excel you should consider learning are:

• SUMIFS
• COUNTIFS
• AND
• OR
• IFERROR

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