MCAS Formulas, Functions & Calculations 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Microsoft Excel, which symbol must begin every formula?
- @
- = (Correct answer)
- #
- +
Correct answer: =
Every Excel formula must begin with an equal sign (=) to signal that what follows is a calculation, not plain text.
Question 2: What is the result of the Excel formula =SUM(A1:A5) if cells A1 through A5 contain the values 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10?
- 10
- 30 (Correct answer)
- 20
- 48
Correct answer: 30
SUM adds all values in the range: 2+4+6+8+10 = 30.
Question 3: In Excel, what does a cell reference like $A$1 (with dollar signs) indicate?
- A formula that calculates currency values
- An absolute reference that does not change when the formula is copied to another cell (Correct answer)
- A reference to a cell in another workbook
- A cell that has been locked for editing
Correct answer: An absolute reference that does not change when the formula is copied to another cell
Dollar signs in a cell reference create an absolute reference, fixing both the column letter and row number when the formula is copied.
Question 4: Which Excel function returns the largest value in a range of cells?
- LARGE
- MAX (Correct answer)
- HIGH
- TOP
Correct answer: MAX
The MAX function returns the largest numeric value found within the specified range.
Question 5: In Excel, what does the IF function do?
- Counts the number of cells that are not empty
- Returns one value if a condition is true and another value if it is false (Correct answer)
- Looks up a value in a table and returns a result from the same row
- Rounds a number to a specified number of decimal places
Correct answer: Returns one value if a condition is true and another value if it is false
The IF function evaluates a logical condition and returns one value for TRUE and a different value for FALSE.
Question 6: In Excel, what does the AVERAGE function calculate?
- The middle value in a sorted list
- The arithmetic mean (sum divided by count) of a range of numbers (Correct answer)
- The most frequently occurring value
- The difference between the highest and lowest values
Correct answer: The arithmetic mean (sum divided by count) of a range of numbers
AVERAGE calculates the arithmetic mean by adding all values in the range and dividing by the count of those values.
MCAS Formulas, Functions & Calculations 1
In Microsoft Excel, which symbol must begin every formula?