Explanation

The VALUE function lets us convert data that is stored as text, into values. Here’s how it works:

But why is it that important to us if a cell is a text or a value? Because Excel treats data stored as text differently than data stored as number – even if it looks like the same value! If we don’t have our data in the same type, we are going to have trouble performing operations such as IF, VLOOKUP and many more! 

Let’s see an example to understand – Are these two numbers the same? 

Syntax

=VALUE(TEXT)

TEXT – This is the data that is stored as text and we’d like to convert to a value. 

Practice VALUE function

Let’s practice this function: