If you're working with a complex Excel spreadsheet, formulas that pull data from disparate cells can get pretty ugly pretty fast. To avoid repeatedly entering clumsy sets of row and column labels, try assigning names to ranges of cells instead with Excel's Insert, Name command.
For example, take the formula =SUM(A2:A5, B2:B5, C2:C10). To simplify it, select the first range by dragging your mouse over cells A2 through A5, then hold down Ctrl and drag again to add the other two ranges to the selection.
After you've highlighted the cells, choose Insert, Name, Define (or press Ctrl-F3). Type in a name for the range(s) you've selected (such as "data1"), and click OK.
Now go back and edit your formula, replacing =SUM(A2:A5, B2:B5, C2:C10) with =SUM(data1).
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