Strategy: In Excel 2002 and later, type the function and the opening parenthesis. A tooltip will appear to remind you of the order of the arguments. Any arguments in square brackets are optional. As shown in Fig. 329, the argument in bold is the argument that you need to type now.
Alternate Strategy: If you are using Excel 2000 or if you need more help than the abbreviations of “pmt” and “pv”, then use the Function Arguments dialog. Type the function name and the opening parenthesis. Hit Ctrl+A to display the Function Arguments dialog, as shown in Fig. 330. The Function Arguments dialog shows the order of the arguments. Arguments in bold are required. The other arguments are optional. As you click into each text box in the dialog, the text at the bottom describes that argument in detail.
If you still need more help, there is a hyperlink to the complete help
topic for this function.
As you enter the value for each argument, the Function Arguments dialog will calculate the numeric results of that argument. After you have entered all of the required arguments, the Function Wizard will display the result of the function, as shown in Fig. 331. You can consider whether this result is a reasonable number before accepting the formula.
In Fig. 331, the formula result indicates that if you want to pay $425 a month for a $25,000 car, you will be paying for 69.6 months. This seems about right, so choose OK.
Result: As shown in Fig. 332, you’ve entered a fairly complex function without having to remember its details.
Summary: Use Ctrl+A shortcut after entering the opening parenthesis of a function to display the Function Arguments dialog box.
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