Question

What is Text Manipulation Function? Explain its syntax.

Hint:

The TEXT function changes a number into text in a chosen format. Give its syntax TEXT (value, format_text) and explain both arguments.

Answer 1

Step 1: Meaning of the Text Manipulation Function:
A spreadsheet holds numbers, dates and words. Some jobs need a number to be shown as text in a fixed pattern, for example a total joined to a sentence.
The Text Manipulation Function does this job. It converts a numeric value into text in a specific number format.
The TEXT function of Excel is the standard example. Its result is a text string, so it is no longer treated as a number.

Step 2: Syntax of the function:
The syntax is written as shown below.
TEXT (value, format_text)
The function takes two arguments. They are separated by a comma and enclosed in brackets.

Step 3: Explain the first argument: value:
value is the number to be converted.
It can be a plain numeric value, a formula that evaluates to a number, or a reference to a cell that holds a number.
Example: 1234.5, or =B2*2, or the cell reference B2.

Step 4: Explain the second argument: format_text:
format_text is the number format that we want, written as a text string.
It must be enclosed in quotation marks. For example "0.00" shows two decimal places and "0%" shows a percentage.

Step 5: Work out two examples:

Formula	Result shown	Meaning
=TEXT(1234.5,"0.00")	1234.50	Number converted to text with two decimals
=TEXT(0.25,"0%")	25%	Fraction converted to text in percentage form

In both cases the answer is text, so it lines up on the left of the cell and cannot be added like a number.

Step 6: Match with the 4 marks:
Mark 1: what the function does (converts a numeric value to text in a specific format).
Mark 2: the syntax TEXT (value, format_text).
Mark 3: the meaning of value.
Mark 4: the meaning of format_text.

Final Answer:
The Text Manipulation Function converts a numeric value to text in a specified number format. Its syntax is TEXT (value, format_text), where value is the number, a formula or a cell reference, and format_text is the number format in quotation marks.