Excel’s WORKDAY function is a useful tool for calculating the date that falls a specified number of workdays before or after a given date. It’s commonly used in business and project management to determine deadlines and project timelines. Let’s break down how this function works in simple terms, suitable for high school students.
Syntax
WORKDAY(start_date, days, [holidays])
Arguments
Here are the arguments you can use with the WORKDAY function:
| start_date | The initial date from which you want to calculate workdays. |
| days | The number of workdays (positive or negative) you want to add or subtract from the start_date. |
| [holidays] | (Optional) An optional list of dates representing holidays when work should not be considered. |
How to Use
Let’s see how to use the WORKDAY function with some examples:
Example 1: Calculate a date 5 workdays after July 1, 2023:
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=WORKDAY("2023-07-01", 5) |
This formula will return the date July 8, 2023, because it skips the weekend (Saturday and Sunday).
Example 2: Calculate a date 10 workdays before November 15, 2023, considering Thanksgiving as a holiday:
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=WORKDAY("2023-11-15", -10, {"2023-11-23"}) |
In this case, the formula will return November 3, 2023, as it accounts for Thanksgiving (November 23) as a holiday and counts back 10 workdays.
Example 3: Calculate a date 3 workdays after December 25, 2023, considering Christmas and New Year’s Day as holidays:
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=WORKDAY("2023-12-25", 3, {"2023-12-25", "2024-01-01"}) |
The result will be December 29, 2023, since Christmas and New Year’s Day are considered holidays, and it skips them.
Remember that the WORKDAY function is incredibly useful when you need to handle business days or workdays in your date calculations, taking holidays into account.
Additional Information
If you encounter terms or concepts you’re unfamiliar with, you can look up their definitions on relevant websites or dictionaries for a more comprehensive understanding.