Practice by topic / Excel / Combining Techniques
Real spreadsheet problems usually need more than one function. These exercises nest formulas inside each other — the step that separates beginners from confident users. These 10 exercises build up step by step, starting with clean and measure text in one formula, round the result of a division, combine abs and round for a clean variance.
3 of 10 free · no sign-up needed · graded on the formula you write
A1 holds messy text with extra spaces. Write a formula in A2 that trims it and returns its length, nesting TRIM inside LEN.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | hello world |
| 2 | ? |
Nest TRIM inside LEN: =LEN(TRIM(A1))
Right — nesting TRIM inside LEN measures the cleaned-up length, not the length including stray spaces.
Expected result in A2: 11
A1 holds a total, B1 holds a count. Write a formula in C1 that divides them and rounds the result to 1 decimal, nesting the division inside ROUND.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 7 | ? |
Nest the division inside ROUND: =ROUND(A1/B1,1)
Good — nesting the division inside ROUND cleans up the output in a single formula.
Expected result in C1: 14.3
A1 holds budgeted, B1 holds actual (actual may be higher or lower). Write a formula in C1 that returns the rounded absolute variance, nesting ABS inside ROUND.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500 | 486.7 | ? |
Nest the subtraction inside ABS, then wrap in ROUND: =ROUND(ABS(A1-B1),0)
Right — this combines three ideas in one formula: subtract, take the absolute value, then round.
Expected result in C1: 13
A1 holds a product code with extra spaces and lowercase letters. Write a formula in A2 that trims and uppercases it in one nested formula.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | sku42 |
| 2 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1 holds a score. Write a formula in B2 that returns the rounded score if A1 is above 0, otherwise 0 — nesting ROUND inside IF.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87.456 | |
| 2 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1:A3 hold three amounts with many decimal places. Write a formula in A4 that sums them and rounds the total to 2 decimals in one nested formula.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10.333 |
| 2 | 5.667 |
| 3 | 2.111 |
| 4 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1 holds a label with underscores instead of spaces, in lowercase. Write a formula in A2 that replaces underscores with spaces and proper-cases the result in one nested formula.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | wireless_mouse |
| 2 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1:A3 hold three measurements with decimals. Write a formula in A4 that finds the maximum and rounds it to 1 decimal in one nested formula.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 12.34 |
| 2 | 15.67 |
| 3 | 9.21 |
| 4 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1 holds a name in lowercase. Write a formula in A2 that returns the first letter capitalized, nesting LEFT inside UPPER.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | jordan |
| 2 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A1:A3 hold three scores. Write a formula in A4 that averages them and rounds to a whole number in one nested formula.
| A | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 88 |
| 2 | 91 |
| 3 | 79 |
| 4 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →