The 'LEN' function in MS-Excel belongs to which of the following categories?

The correct answer is C, Text. LEN returns the number of characters in an entry, counting letters, digits, punctuation and spaces alike, so =LEN("Excel") gives 5. Because it works on text rather than on values, Excel files it under the Text category of the Formulas tab, along with LEFT, RIGHT, MID, UPPER, LOWER, TRIM and CONCATENATE.

Option A, Financial, holds the money functions such as PMT, RATE, NPV and FV, which work out instalments, interest rates and present values. Option B, Logical, holds IF, AND, OR, NOT and IFERROR, the functions that test a condition and return one result or another. Option D, Math and Trig, holds SUM, ROUND, ABS, SQRT, POWER and MOD, which calculate on numbers. LEN does return a number, and that is the trap that pulls candidates towards D, but a function is classified by what it works on, and LEN works on text.