How to Use Excel to Calculate Volume

How to Use Excel to Calculate Volume

Introduction to Volume Calculation in Excel

Well, that’s true, determining volume in Excel is not a tough task if you learn some correct methods. As an Excel freak, I’ll endeavor to share with you a simple guide on how you can make different kinds of volume calculations in the Excel spreadsheet. If you need to know the volume of cubes, cylinders, and or irregular shapes, Excel provides functions that you can use when performing the calculations.

Understanding Volume and Its Units

Firstly, volume quantifies the number of cubes an object takes up in the three-dimensional space. Some of the customary units of volume include cubic centimeters, cubic inches, cubic feet, cubic meters, milliliters, liters, and gallons. The basic volume is calculated by length multiplied by the width multiplied by the height, or LWH. Nevertheless, other shapes have their unique volume formulas. As for these geometric volume formulas, most of them have already been defined in Excel where it becomes very fast to compute an answer.

Simple Volume Calculations with Cubes

There are many ways to calculate volume in Excel, they range from basic to complex; this means that one of the simplest ways to calculate volume is using the volume cube formula. To accomplish this, type the dimensions LENGTH, WIDTH, and HEIGHT of your cube into any three cells in Excel in the same manner as above. Then in another cell, you can type in the formula =A1*B1*C1 where A1, B1, and C1 would contain your measurements respectively. So when you press the Enter button there you have the cubic volume of it!

Calculating Volume of Cylinders

For instance, you can easily calculate the volume of cylinders using Excel as well. For example, assuming that the volume of a cylinder depends on its radius, which is equal to 5 inches, and its height, which is 10 inches, you would input these values to the corresponding cells. In another cell, type the Excel formula as =PI()*A1^2*B1: A1 should contain the radius and B1 should contain the height. The volume, as a result in cubic inches, will pop up!

Handling Irregular Shapes with Volume Charts

For other shapes and sizes of goods that are not uniform in dimensions, you can construct a volume chart. For more complex shapes, it is also possible to enter the dimensions of smaller segments of a cube that make up the object with the given length, width, and height. Form a new column carrying the formula =A2*B2*C2 and fill this formula down to each row of the dimensions. Add up the volume in this column to get the total irregular volume!

Advanced Functions for Volume Calculation

Other Excel functions such as the VOLCUBE and VOLCYL can also be used to calculate the volume for cube and cylinder shapes at once. There also exist more complicated formulas for a sphere, a cone, a polygon, and other geometric forms.

Conclusion: Mastering Volume Calculations in Excel

Now, thanks to Excel, any volume calculation can be made with great ease when one is guided properly. Whether you are working on a construction site and require cubic yards of concrete for a project or a medical practitioner who requires milliliters of a particular medicine, there is always a solution in Microsoft Excel. The trick in this case is to identify the respective functions and formulas that are relevant to the given volume measurement context.

I would like to believe that this overview is enough to make you believe that you can calculate volumes in Excel in the manner that you need it. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below if you have any other questions regarding volumes! If you would like more detailed information, I would be glad to give you more to help you learn how to carry out volume calculations on a spreadsheet.