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Defining formulas that use functions – Apple Pages 2 User Manual

Page 195

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Chapter 8

Creating Tables

195

Defining Formulas That Use Functions

The following tables provide information about the three kinds of

functions: statistical, numerical, and logical. In the tables, these conventions are used

to describe arguments:

 The argument placeholders—x, x

1

, and so forth—represent places where input to

the functions (such as cell references or constants) should go.

 The ellipsis (...) following a list of arguments means you can use additional

arguments. Place a comma between arguments; if you’re in a locale where the

decimal separator is not a period, place a semicolon between arguments.

 Functions that don’t require a specific number of arguments (such as AVERAGE) can

include cell range references (such as A4:A6) instead of or in addition to other

arguments.

Statistical functions perform statistical calculations.

This function

Returns

Examples

AVERAGE(x

1

...)

The arithmetic mean of the
arguments

AVERAGE(2, 3) returns 2.5

COUNT(x

1

...)

The number of arguments that
are numeric

COUNT(1, 2, ”hello”) returns 2
COUNT(A1:A4) returns 2 if A1
and A2 contain numbers, but
A3 and A4 are empty

MAX(x

1

...)

The value of the largest
argument

MAX(–1, 42, 7) returns 42

MIN(x

1

...)

The value of the smallest
argument

MIN(–1, 42, 7) returns
–1

Notes:
 If an argument is a reference to a cell that doesn’t contain a number,

the argument is ignored. TRUE is interpreted as 1, FALSE is interpreted as 0,
and text strings result in an error.