A VERY General question

[Bons]

Is there a glossary somewhere that explains what the various strokes indicate
in Excel? For instance I know that for certain formulas I need to use " but
I don't know why...---If I knew what " said to Excel I think I could make
much better use of the program---another instance I noticed a post where
someone said "you have to use double quotes" Is there a way of understanding
in plain terms what exactly that is telling Excel to do?

I hope I'm making this clear...... I can learn by rote and just do it....but
am trying to understand Why I'm doing it, so can be better in the future.
Thanks!!!

 

[Sheeloo]

At the risk of oversimplificaiton;

In Excel, essentially you have three types
1. Numbers
You can enter any combination of digits, decimal point, commas...
2. Dates
Which are again stored as numbers so you can enter numbers, or any date
format.
3. Strings or words or sentences
You can enter them into any cell just as you type any text, word, sentence
etc.

When you use string in any formula then you need to put double quotes around
it
=IF(A1="String to test","Result if TRUE","Result if FALSE")

If you refer to a sheet name you enclose it between a pair of single quotes
like 'Sheet name'
If there are no spaces in the name then you can skip the quotes

Workbook name is enclosed in []

Best way to learn is lookup Help on any formula, copy the example on to your
worksheet and then experiment with adding, removing quotes etc...

 

[Harlan Grove]

Is there a glossary somewhere that explains what the various strokes indicate
in Excel?  For instance I know that for certain formulas I need to use "but
I don't know why...---If I knew what " said to Excel I think I could make
much better use of the program---another instance I noticed a post where
someone said "you have to use double quotes"  Is there a way of understanding
in plain terms what exactly that is telling Excel to do?

Read online help.

Spreadsheet formulas are a form of programming, and using quote marks,
either single or double, is a basic topic in programming. In brief,
spreadsheet formulas use functions and chunks of text. For example, if
the name N is defined as the number 8, the formula

=LEFT("This is a test.",N)

returns the text string ('string' being a common programming term more
precisely defined as a sequence or characters) "This is " not
including the double quote characters. There are three sequences of
characters in this formula. The first, LEFT, doesn't appear in quotes
but is immediately followed by a left parenthesis, which means Excel
will treat it as a function name. The next sequence, including the
double quote characters, is "This is a test." which is a literal text
constant or string, which means Excel will treat it exactly as it
appears. Finally, N isn't quoted and isn't followed immediately by a
left parenthesis, so Excel first checks whether it's a defined name,
and if not, Excel then checks whether it's a range address. In this
case it's a defined name. If you had wanted to use the capital letter
N, you would have needed to have double quoted it, so as "N".

There's really no effective substitute for experience when it comes to
learning the difference between literal text strings, function names,
defined names and range addresses. Rote learning will evolve into
deeper understanding over time if you allow yourself to experiment.