By Hiran de Silva
Paul Barnhurst recently posted about Excel’s historical expansion in terms of the number of built-in functions. A nice factoid perhaps, but as a measure of Excel’s true progress, it’s absurd.
Let’s look at why.
Excel Functions: Finite or Unlimited?
At first, Excel shipped with a hundred or so formulas: arithmetic, financial, lookups, statistical. For the basic user, that was plenty. Their spreadsheet needs—summing a column, calculating percentages, doing a lookup—were fully covered.
But in Excel 5, Microsoft introduced something transformative: the User Defined Function (UDF). Suddenly, an advanced user could take any logic they needed—whether simple or complex, industry-specific or personal—and wrap it into their own function.
That moment changed everything. The number of formulas in Excel ceased to be finite. It became, in practice, unlimited.
Why More Functions Don’t Mean Progress
If the basic user’s needs haven’t really changed in decades, adding more formulas doesn’t help them. If anything, it confuses them. And if the advanced user’s needs are by definition unique, then their real power lies in UDFs, not in waiting for Microsoft to drip-feed another 50 built-ins.
Which means that function-counting is, at best, trivia. At worst, it shows how shallow the conversation about Excel has become on social media.
The Henry Ford Analogy
When Henry Ford built the Model T, he famously said: “You can have any colour you like, as long as it’s black.”
Now imagine celebrating 100 years of the motor car by listing how many colours became available over the decades. Great fodder for social media “engagement.” But meaningless—because if you really care, you can always repaint the car any colour you want.
My father had his car resprayed in the early ’60s. He picked the exact shade he liked. Excel has been in that same position since Excel 5: if you need a formula, you don’t wait for Microsoft to add it. You just define it.
What This Really Reveals
So when influencers hype the growing formula count, they’re not teaching Excel. They’re teaching trivia. They’re mistaking surface metrics for substance.
And it shows how little the social-media Excel community actually understands about what makes Excel powerful. The real milestone wasn’t the 100th, 200th, or 500th function—it was when Excel became unlimited.
That happened 30 years ago. The rest is just noise.
Add comment