The IF Function Part 1

The simple form of the IF function is, for example:

=IF(A1>50, “Pass”).

This might be in cell B1. The function examines the value in A1 and displays “Pass” in the selected cell if A1 contains a value greater than 70. If the contents of A1 are 70 or less the display reads ‘FALSE’.

In a programming language this line would read something like this: IF A1 > 70 THEN OUTPUT “Pass”.

In Excel the word ‘THEN’ is replaced by a comma.

The IF function can be extended to include an alternative outcome if the initial test is FALSE, for example: =IF(A1>=70, “Pass”, "Fail")

This examines the contents of A1 and outputs "Pass" if the value is greater than or equal to 70 and "Fail" if the value is less than 70. Here is this function in a worksheet:

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