Using the IF function in Excel can be very useful in a spreadsheet. The IF function will allow you to check if a condition you have set is true or false. You can use the IF function in a formula to give a result, depending on whether the data expressed in a cell meets the criteria.
For example, you could use the IF function in a spreadsheet of sales results and set the condition that if a salesman reaches a certain target, they will get a bonus. The IF function formula for the sales spreadsheet will look like this,=IF(A1>50000,”Bonus”,”No”)
There are three parts of the IF function, the logical test, the value if true and the value if false, so the basic IF function will look like this, =IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false,)
The logical test is the argument that you want the test for, is the number in the cell A1, greater than 50,000. For our example we use the (>) Greater than conditional operator.The ”Bonus” is if the value is true and “No” is if the value is false.
This is a basic IF function formula, but you can use other conditional operators in the formula.
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal to
<= Less than or equal to
<> Not equal to
In more complex IF function formulas, you are able to use a combination of these conditional operators.
