I. Intro
The EDATE function returns a date that is a specified number of months before or after the given date. For example, you can find out what the exact date was 15 months before Dec 1, 2021.
II. About the function
- Formula: =EDATE(start date, number of months)
- Parameters:
- Start date: The start date to calculate from.
- Number of months: The number of months before (negative integer) or after (positive integer) the start date.
- Example:
- In a cell, enter =EDATE("2021/12/1", -15). The formula will calculate that 15 months before Dec 1, 2021 is Sep 1, 2020.
- Note:
- Use double quotation marks (") around the start date in the formula.
- Set the cell to the date format to ensure the correct results are displayed.
III. Steps
- Select a cell and click Formula in the toolbar, select All functions, and search for EDATE in the formula pane on the right. You can also directly enter =EDATE in a cell.
- Enter the parameters (start date and number of months). The number of months can be a positive or negative integer. For example, enter -15 to find the date from 15 months ago.
- Press Enter to display the result.
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