The Excel Date Formula is a great function that enables you to work comfortably with dates if you’re working with deadlines, finding ages, or studying time lines. Understanding the Excel Date Formula and related excel functions will save you a lot of boring work, as well as help make you more efficient.
Have you ever struggled working with dates in Microsoft Excel? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
What is the Excel Date Formula?
Excel Date Formula provides us with the serial number for a specified date. Excel spreadsheet formulas are expressed as a sequence of figures, making it simple to carry out calculations.
Formula:
DATE (year, month, day)
This formula enables you to feed in your year, month, day as input to create a valid date in your excel worksheet. The Excel Date Formula is the foundation for many other excel spreadsheet formulas.
Key Excel Functions Related to Dates
Brenda wanted her children to know the practical use of excel formulas on dates. Here’s a breakdown of the most common excel functions:
- DATEDIF: Returns the difference between two dates expressed in days, months, or years. Great for calculating ages in Microsoft Excel using the Excel Data.
- DATEVALUE: Converts a date in text form into a serial number for calculation in excel spreadsheet formulas.
- DAY: Returns the day of a serial number.
- DAYS: Returns the difference between two dates expressed in days.
- EDATE: Returns a date a number of months before or after a start date in your excel worksheet.
- EOMONTH: Returns the end-of-month, offset by a number of months.
- MONTH: Returns the month from a serial number.
- NOW: Returns the current date and time.
- TIME: Returns a time with hour, minute, and second arguments.
- TODAY: Returns today’s date for excel spreadsheet formulas.
- YEAR: Returns the year from a date.
- TEXT: Translates a serial number into a date in your excel worksheet.
All of these functions are required for anyone learning excel tutorial exercises or data manipulation in Microsoft Excel. The Excel Date Formula typically works in conjunction with these excel functions to simplify the calculations.
Examples of the Excel Date Formula in Real Life
Let us learn some examples to understand how to use these excel spreadsheet formulas in real-life scenarios.
Printing a Specific Date
Task: Print the date 2nd May 2001.
Formula:
DATE (2001, 5, 2)
This will print the date in the correct format in your excel worksheet. Using the Excel Date Formula is the best method to ensure the date will be interpreted properly by Excel if calculations are to be performed.
Calculating Age
Task: Determine the age of a person born on 7th June 2000 on 15th August 2019.
Formula:
=DATEDIF (DOB, Target_Date, “y”)
- “y” calculates years’ difference.
- “m” for months, “d” for days.
Utilizing excel formulas like DATEDIF along with the Excel Data, age can be calculated in a snap in Microsoft Excel.
Converting Dates to Serial Numbers
Task: February 7 to serial number.
Formula:
=DATEVALUE(“2/7/YYYY”)
The Excel will give a numeric serial number symbolizing this date, on which other calculations are feasible with excel functions. Excel Date Formula may also be applied here for complex scenarios.
- Day, Month, or Year Extraction
- Extract Day: =DAY (serial_number)
- Extract Month: =MONTH (serial_number)
- Extract Year: =YEAR (serial_number)
For instance, using serial number 44658 in =MONTH (44658) yields the month of that date in your excel worksheet. These functions are usually used in combination with the Excel Date Formula.
Calculating Days Between Dates
Task: Determine the days between April 11, 2003, and June 23, 2009.
Formula:
=DAYS (end_date, start_date)
This is required for excel spreadsheet formulas that make timelines or project duration calculations in Microsoft Excel. This Formula is applied to normalize date values for such calculations.
Adjusting Dates by Months
Task: Determine the date four months after June 23, 2007.
Formula:
=EDATE (start_date, 4)
This is utilized in planning, scheduling, and financial modeling within your excel worksheet. Using the Excel Date Formula as a starting point ensures accurate monthly calculations.
- Current Date and Time
- Current Date and Time: =NOW ()
- Today’s Date Only: =TODAY ()
These formulas are ideal for excel tutorial and dynamic tracking in Microsoft Excel. You can use with NOW () to get precise timestamps.
Calculating Time
Task: Print the time 03:44 AM.
Formula:
=TIME (3, 44, 0)
Add this along with the Excel Data to create timestamps or schedule an event in your excel spreadsheet formulas.
Formatting Dates
Task: Date format serial number 43546 to MM/DD/YYYY.
Formula:
=TEXT (43546, “MM/DD/YYYY”)
This enables your excel worksheet to display dates appropriately but won’t alter the inherent serial number. Utilizing the Excel Date Formula guarantees that all formats are uniform.
Tips on Using Excel Date Formulas Effectively
- Always double verify excel formulas for proper syntax.
- Use DATEVALUE to convert text dates prior to calculations.
- Use DATEDIF in conjunction with TODAY () to automatically compute ages.
- Remember, Excel treats dates as numbers allowing arithmetic operations like adding or subtracting days.
- For reporting, always use TEXT to display dates in readable formats.
Key Takeaways
Learning Excel Date Formula and other excel functions will benefit everyone who ever. Whether preparing reports, scheduling projects, or analyzing excel data, these formulas help:
- Excel Date Formula converts year, month, day to an applicable date.
- Always properly format dates to keep things clear.
- Merging these functions empowers advanced excel worksheet management and excel data examination.
By practicing these, anyone can master date management in Microsoft Excel, become more comfortable with excel tutorials, and be able to successfully manage their excel spreadsheet formulas. The Excel Date Formula is still the foundation of all date calculations.
Conclusion
Mastering these formulas is a step towards becoming an expert in Microsoft Excel and realizing the entire capacity of excel tutorials and excel spreadsheet formulas. Employing the Excel Date Formula under various situations will improve your proficiency and streamline your workflows.