When is AND(A, B) TRUE?

Only when both A and B are TRUE

Logical Functions

By the Syncfusion DevTutorials team · Last updated October 20, 2026

Make decisions with IF, nested IFs, AND, OR, and NOT, and summarize with COUNTIF and SUMIF. Then build a commission sheet in the Chapter 4 project.

So far, your formulas have performed calculations. Now they can make decisions. Logical functions allow Excel to evaluate conditions and return different results depending on whether those conditions are TRUE or FALSE. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use IF, AND, OR, and NOT, create multiple outcomes with nested IF statements, and summarize data using COUNTIF and SUMIF.

Open the Excel sandbox and follow along.

Comparison operators

Conditions use comparison operators. Each comparison is either TRUE or FALSE.

Operator	Meaning	Example (B2 = 60)
`=`	Equal to	`B2=60` → TRUE
`<>`	Not equal to	`B2<>60` → FALSE
`>`	Greater than	`B2>50` → TRUE
`<`	Less than	`B2<50` → FALSE
`>=`	Greater than or equal to	`B2>=60` → TRUE
`<=`	Less than or equal to	`B2<=59` → FALSE

IF()

IF checks a condition and returns one value if it's TRUE and another if it's FALSE:

IF has three arguments

=IF(condition, value_if_true, value_if_false)
=IF(B2>=50, "Pass", "Fail")

If B2 is 50 or more, the cell shows Pass; otherwise it shows Fail.

Put text results in double quotes: "Pass".
Results can also be numbers or calculations: =IF(B2>1000, B2*10%, 0) gives a 10% bonus on sales over 1000, and 0 otherwise.

Multiple conditions

For more than two outcomes, put one IF inside another. This is called a nested IF:

A nested IF gives three outcomes

=IF(B2>=80, "Distinction", IF(B2>=50, "Pass", "Fail"))

Excel checks the first condition. If it's FALSE, it moves on to the second IF.

Check from the highest threshold down: 80 first, then 50. If you checked >=50 first, an 85 would stop there and get "Pass" instead of "Distinction".

AND()

AND is TRUE only when all its conditions are TRUE.

=IF(AND(B2>=50, C2>=50), "Pass", "Fail") passes only if both scores are 50 or more.

OR()

OR is TRUE when at least one of its conditions is TRUE.

=IF(OR(B2="Manager", C2>5), "Eligible", "Not eligible") is eligible if the person is a manager or has more than 5 years' service.

NOT()

NOT flips TRUE to FALSE and FALSE to TRUE.

=IF(NOT(B2="Paid"), "Send reminder", "") reminds everyone whose status isn't "Paid". ("" shows nothing.)

Text comparisons in IF, COUNTIF, and SUMIF ignore capital letters: "paid" matches Paid. But spelling and extra spaces matter, so Paid with a trailing space won't match. Drop-down lists (Lesson 19) keep entries consistent.

COUNTIF() and SUMIF()

These two count and add only the cells that meet a condition:

Counting and adding with a condition

=COUNTIF(range, condition)
=COUNTIF(C2:C20, "Pass")         how many passed
=COUNTIF(B2:B20, ">=80")         how many scored 80 or more

=SUMIF(range, condition, sum_range)
=SUMIF(A2:A20, "Food", B2:B20)   total spent on Food

Comparisons in COUNTIF and SUMIF go inside quotes: ">=80".

IF decides for one row. COUNTIF and SUMIF summarize many rows. Together they answer most everyday questions: "who passed?", "how many passed?", and "how much did we spend on food?"

Common mistakes

Mistake	What happens	How to fix it
Missing quotes around text	`#NAME?` error	Add quotes: `"Pass"`
Using `=>` instead of `>=`	Excel rejects the formula	Write `>=` and `<=` with `=` second
Nested IF in the wrong order	High scores get the lower grade	Test the highest threshold first
Parentheses don't match	Excel warns about the formula	Count `(` and `)`, one pair per function
COUNTIF condition without quotes	`=COUNTIF(B2:B9, >=80)` is rejected	Write `">=80"`

Exercise

Click Reset in the sandbox header. Type:

A1: Name, B1: Score, C1: Result
A2 to A5: Ana, Ben, Cara, Dev
B2 to B5: 45, 68, 82, 91

Then do each task and press Check.

Chapter project

Put Chapter 4 together. You'll build a sales commission sheet with formulas, an absolute reference, functions, and IF decisions.

Sales commission sheet

What to remember

Comparisons (=, <>, >, <, >=, <=) are TRUE or FALSE.
=IF(condition, if_true, if_false) makes a decision; text results go in quotes.
Nested IFs give more than two outcomes; test the highest threshold first.
AND needs all conditions TRUE; OR needs one; NOT flips the result.
COUNTIF counts and SUMIF adds only the rows that meet a condition.

That's the end of Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, you'll learn how to find, sort, filter, and validate data.