Date function in Excel and how to use?

If you are confused about how to use the date function in excel, to form dates using years, months and day then you are at the right place.

What is the date function?

The date function in Microsoft Excel is categorised under Excel Date/Time functions. This function is primarily used to calculate dates in Excel. This function is very useful for financial analysis because financial modelling requires specific time periods.  an analyst in use the date function in their financial model to dynamically link the year month and day from different cells into one function. It is a worksheet function, so the date function can be entered as part of a formula in a cell of a worksheet.

How does the Date function work?

  • Syntax:

DATE( year, month, day)

  • Parameters:
  1. Year – A number that represents the year
  2. Month – A number that represents the month value. If the month value is greater than 12, then every twelve months will add 1 year to the year value. For e.g., DATE (2019, 14, 5) is equal to DATE(2020, 2, 5)
  3. Day – A number representing the day value. If the date value is greater than the number of days in the month specified, then the appropriate number of months will be added to the month value. 
  • Returns:

The date function returns a serial date value. If the year is greater than 9999, the date function will return #NUM! error

  • Applies to:

Excel for Office 365, Excel 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2011 for Mac, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000

Example

Let us have a look at the DATE function example and how the function is implemented in the worksheet.