Microsoft Excel Functions and Formulas, Covers Excel 2010, 2nd Edition (Computer Science)
Now this is a book worth having in every bookshelf! I have used Excel countless times and have always wondered what all those functions and formulas did while still struggling mightily to get the kinds of things done that I wanted done.Bernd Held takes a very calm, systematic approach to explaining each of these functions and formulas, providing lots of examples for each one (for different purposes, how to use different variations of the same function, for example). The functions are organized in terms of Logical, Text, Date and Time, Statistical, Mathematical, Financial, Database and Lookup and Reference functions.Then he provides examples of how to use formulas. This followed by a ton of real examples of people trying to use Excel formulas and functions for various purposes and this provides a real  nice window into how someone could use all these features.I have seen Excel spreadsheets being used almost like a real powerful computer program except they have all been built by very experienced Excel Power Users. Formulas and Functions make Excel a very powerful tool as many in the Business Intelligence community can attest to!As vacation time approaches, the normal thing to do is to plan the vacation budget. Ever since Lotus 1-2-3 bit the dust, Microsoft Excel is the de-facto program you’ll probably use. But, similar to Photoshop, Excel is one of those programs where you probably only use 10% of its computing capabilities.Microsoft Excel Functions and Formulas was written for those of you who know the basics, but have never scratched the surface of what else could be done. In a very direct manner, it gives hundreds of scenarios and how to craft an Excel formula to solve it.This isn’t a beginner’s book on how to use Excel, although a beginner could probably benefit from it. It rather gives you step-by-step solutions to solve a range of problems such as:* Converting dollars to euros* Converting miles per hour to KM per hour* Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius* Using the INDIRECT function to play “Battleship”* Using conditional formatting to create your vacation gantt chart* Creating your own calendar or to do list* Using the WEEKNUM and MOD functions to shade bi-weekly paydays on the calendarThe book also comes with a CD-ROM. Each chapter in the book appears on the CD so you can use the calculations without having to rekey them all yourselves.My only regret was that there were no examples given or even touched on concerning pivot tables.Microsoft Excel Functions and Formulas is one of those books you can pick up and become productive with immediately. No need to read the entire book, but you can refer to a problem and learn its solution right away.