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IF statements
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What are IF statements and where are they used?
IF statements are logical statements. They are often used when certain conditions must be met. An example could be: a bonus is given to salespeople selling more than $1000 worth of products. IF statements
compare the sales of each person and enters the bonus earned.

IF statements are written this way: =if(A1>=1000,4%,"")

• =if( begins the IF statement
• then comes the condition - say $1000 is the amount of sales needed to earn a bonus, the IF statement would
  now look like this =if(A1>=1000
• here you are saying IF the number in A1 is greater than or equal to 1000
• BIG TIP - do not use commas in numbers - commas tell the IF statement that you are ready to move on
• now, you want the IF statement to give a bonus of 4% if the sales are $1000 or more, SO the IF statement
  would read =if(A1>=1000,4%
• note the comma, the comma reads then. The statement reads this way so far: if A1 is greater than or equal to $1000 THEN the person will receive a 4% bonus
• to finish the IF statement you have to let Excel know what happens if the number is less than $1000
• SO, you put a comma after 4%, this tells Excel then =if(A1>=1000,4%,
• And lastly you can either do one of the following "" means leave the cell blank, 0 would tell Excel to put a zero in the cell
• the formula now looks like this: =if(A1>=1000,4%,""
• You finish the IF statement with an ending parenthesis )
• The finished IF statement looks like this: =if(A1>=1000,4%,''")
• You have keyed in an IF statement

Diagram1:

Diagram 2:

Diagram 3:

Email me for more examples of how to do IF statements - I would do this.

You can also use the paste function icon to do IF statements.

Let's do the same example where we want Excel to tell us whether the number in a cell is "four". And, if it is not a four Excel will say "not a four"

The steps:

• click on the cell where the answer will be displayed
• either select the fx icon or go to the FORMULAS tab and select Insert Function
• a box appears - look to the left and select logical
• then look to the right and select IF
• click OK
• another box appears
• in the first blank - the logical test - click on the cell that has the data and then KEY IN what you want to have happen
• example: A1=4 (here you clicked on cell A1 and keyed in =4)
• in the next blank, key in what you want to have Excel do if this is true
• example: we want Excel to say four, SO we key in "four"
• in the next blank, key in what you want to have Excel do if it is not true
• example: we want Excel to say not a four, SO we key in "not a four"
• click OK and the formula is done

Diagram:

Now you can email me for the assignments. And, for fun, you are now ready for charts.