DATE Function in Excel: Explained

In this article you will learn about the DATE formula in Excel and its applications in real life.

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What does the DATE formula in Excel do?

The DATE function in Excel returns a date serial number for a specified year, month, and day. This function is useful for creating date values that can be used in calculations or charting, or for converting text dates to serial numbers.

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What are some uses of the DATE function in Excel?

The DATE function in Excel has several uses, including:

1. Creating date serial numbers: You can use the DATE function to create date serial numbers for a specific year, month, and day. This is useful for working with dates in calculations or charting.
2. Calculating time intervals: The DATE function can be used in conjunction with other functions, such as DATEDIF, to calculate the time interval between two dates. For example, the formula =DATEDIF(DATE(2022,1,1),DATE(2023,3,7),"d") would return the number of days between January 1, 2022, and March 7, 2023.
3. Creating dynamic dates: You can use the DATE function in combination with other functions, such as TODAY and NOW, to create dynamic date values that update automatically. For example, the formula =DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY()),DAY(TODAY())) would return today's date as a serial number.

Overall, the DATE function is a versatile tool for working with dates in Excel, and it can be used in a wide variety of applications.

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How to use the DATE formula?

The syntax for the DATE function is as follows:

=DATE(year,month,day)

Where “year” is a four-digit integer representing the year, “month” is an integer between 1 and 12 representing the month, and “day” is an integer representing the day of the month.

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Note: If “year” is less than 0 or is 10000 or greater, Excel returns the #NUM! error value. However that is not case for “month” & “day”

1. If month is less than 1, month subtracts the magnitude of that number of months, plus 1, from the first month in the year specified. For example, DATE(2018,-4,21) returns the serial number representing August 21, 2017.
2. If day is less than 1, day subtracts the magnitude that number of days, plus one, from the first day of the month specified. For example, DATE(2020,1,-15) returns the serial number representing December 16, 2019.

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You can learn about other Excel and Google Sheets formulas and tips that are not mentioned here on this page: LiveFlow‘s How to Guides