Function Library Divides Functions Categories

1. AutoSum has a few shortcuts that let you quickly add, average, or otherwise deal with a list of numbers.
2. Recently Used has exactly what you'd expectfunctions that you've recently chosen from the Function Library. If you're just starting out with functions, then you see that Excel fills the Recently Used list with a small set of commonly used functions, like SUM( ).
3. Financial functions let you track your car loan payments and calculate how many more years until you can retire rich.
4. Logical functions let you create conditional logic for even smarter spreadsheets that make calculation decisions.
5. Text functions manipulate words, sentences, and other non-numeric information.
6. Date and Time functions perform calendar math, and can help you sort out ages, due dates, and more.
7. Lookup and Reference functions perform the slightly mind-bending feat of searching for information in other cells.
8. Math and Trig functions are the mathematic basics, including sums, rounding, and all the other high-school trigonometry you're trying to forget.
9. More Functions groups together some heavy-duty Excel functions that are intended for specialized purposes. This category includes high-powered statistical and engineering functions. It also includes cube functions, which are designed for working highly technical OLAP (online analytical processing) databases, and information functions, which get "information" about the other cells in your worksheet.

The Function Library section is not the only part of the Formulas tab that you'll use. To the right are buttons for using named cells, tracking down errors, and changing calculation settings.