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Guidelines and Examples of Array Formulas

Array formulas in Excel allow you to perform calculations on multiple items or values at once. They can return either multiple results across a range of cells or a single result in one cell. This document provides examples of multi-cell array formulas that calculate subtotals across a range and a single-cell array formula that calculates a grand total. Users are instructed to create a multi-cell array formula by selecting a range of cells, entering the formula =C2:C11*D2:D11, and pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter to calculate total sales for each person. They also create a single-cell array formula to calculate the grand total sales amount.

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124 views

Guidelines and Examples of Array Formulas

Array formulas in Excel allow you to perform calculations on multiple items or values at once. They can return either multiple results across a range of cells or a single result in one cell. This document provides examples of multi-cell array formulas that calculate subtotals across a range and a single-cell array formula that calculates a grand total. Users are instructed to create a multi-cell array formula by selecting a range of cells, entering the formula =C2:C11*D2:D11, and pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter to calculate total sales for each person. They also create a single-cell array formula to calculate the grand total sales amount.

Uploaded by

Acee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Guidelines and

examples of array
formulas
Excel for Office 365 Excel for Office 365 for Mac Excel 2019 Excel
2016 More...

To become an Excel power user, you need to know how


to use array formulas, which can perform calculations
that you can't do by using non-array formulas. The
following article is based on a series of Excel Power
User columns written by Colin Wilcox and adapted from
chapters 14 and 15 of Excel 2002 Formulas, a book
written by John Walkenbach, an Excel MVP.

Learn about array formulas


Array formulas are often referred to as CSE
(Ctrl+Shift+Enter) formulas because instead of just
pressing Enter, you press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to complete
the formula.

Why use array formulas?


If you have experience using formulas in Excel, you
know that you can perform some fairly sophisticated
operations. For example, you can calculate the total
cost of a loan over any given number of years. You can
use array formulas to do complex tasks, such as:

 Count the number of characters that are contained in a


range of cells.
 Sum only numbers that meet certain conditions, such
as the lowest values in a range or numbers that fall
between an upper and lower boundary.
 Sum every nth value in a range of values.

Quick introduction to arrays and array


formulas
An array formula is a formula that can perform multiple
calculations on one or more of the items in an array .
You can think of an array as a row of values, a column
of values, or a combination of rows and columns of
values. Array formulas can return either multiple results
or a single result. For example, you can create an array
formula in a range of cells and use the array formula to
calculate a column or row of subtotals. You can also
place an array formula in a single cell and calculate a
single amount. An array formula that includes multiple
cells is called a multi-cell formula, and an array formula
in a single cell is called a single-cell formula.

The examples in the next section show you how to


create multi-cell and single-cell array formulas.

Try it!
This exercise shows you how to use multi-cell and
single-cell array formulas to calculate a set of sales
figures. The first set of steps uses a multi-cell formula
to calculate a set of subtotals. The second set uses a
single-cell formula to calculate a grand total.

Multi-cell array formula

Here is a workbook embedded in the browser.


Although it contains sample data, you need to know
that you can't create or change array formulas in an
embedded workbook – you need the Excel program.
You can see the answers in the embedded workbook,
and some text that explains how the array formula
works, but to really appreciate array formulas, you'll
need to see the workbook in Excel.

Create a multi-cell array formula

1. Copy the entire table below and paste it into cell A1 in


a blank worksheet in Excel.
Sales Car Number Unit Total
Person Type Sold Price Sales
Barnhill Sedan 5 33000
Coupe 4 37000
Ingle Sedan 6 24000
Coupe 8 21000
Jordan Sedan 3 29000
Coupe 1 31000
Pica Sedan 9 24000
Coupe 5 37000
Sanchez Sedan 6 33000
Coupe 8 31000
Formula (Grand Total) Grand Total
'=SUM(C2:C11*D2:D11) =SUM(C2:C11*D2:D11)

2. To see Total Sales of coupes and sedans for each


salesperson, select E2:E11, enter the
formula =C2:C11*D2:D11, and then press
Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
3. To see the Grand Total of all sales, select cell F11, enter
the formula =SUM(C2:C11*D2:D11), and then press
Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

You can download this workbook by clicking the green


Excel button in the black bar at the bottom of the
workbook. Then you can open the file in Excel, select
the cells containing the array formulas, and press
Ctrl+Shift+Enter to make the formula work.

If you're working along in Excel, be sure that Sheet1 is


active, and then select cells E2:E11. Press F2 and then
type the formula =C2:C11*D2:D11 in the current cell of
E2. If you press Enter, you'll see that it enters the
formula only in cell E2 and displays 165000. Instead,
after typing the formula, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter instead
of just Enter. Now you'll see results in cells E2:E11.
Notice that in the formula bar, the formula appears as
{=C2:C11*D2:D11}. That tells you that it's an array
formula, as shown in the following table.

When you press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, Excel surrounds the


formula with brace characters ({ }) and inserts an
instance of the formula in each cell of the selected
range. This happens very quickly, so what you see in
column E is the total sales amount for each car type for
each salesperson. If you select E2, then select E3, E4,
and so on, you'll see that the same formula is
shown: {=C2:C11*D2:D11}.

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