Excel exercises
Excel exercises: Dates and deadlines
A date in Excel is a number with a format on it, and every date problem is a problem with that number.
TODAY and NOW recalculate whenever the file does. That suits one cell at the top of a report, and it costs time down a long column. DATE builds a date from a year, a month and a day, so you can construct a period instead of typing it.
DAYS subtracts one date from another. DATEDIF counts whole months or years between two dates, which is what an age column needs.
Five exercises at levels 2 and 3. The summary asks which distance between two dates a question needs.
Widen a date column and the number behind the format appears, usually in the forty-thousands. That is the check to make before any subtraction. A date typed as text will not subtract at all, and the error points at the formula rather than the cell.
A stale exercise is one you finished two weeks ago or longer. One that needs practice took a hint, or more than one try.
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- TODAY and NOW: the volatile clock Paid Tell today's date from this moment, and read the clock out of a date number.
- DATE: build a date from parts Paid Build a real date from three numbers and let DATE roll the overflow.
- DATEDIF: days, months or years between Paid Ask for the gap between two dates in whole years, months or days, with the leftovers when needed.
- DAYS and simple date maths Paid Measure the distance between two dates in days, then treat the answer as the number it is.
- Date functions summary Paid Combine today's date, a distance and a month edge in formulas that still work tomorrow.