Conditional Formatting in Excel:

Conditional formatting is a powerful feature in Microsoft Excel that allows users to apply formatting to cells or ranges based on specific conditions or criteria. By using conditional formatting, you can highlight, emphasize, or differentiate data based on its values or formulas.

Conditions for Applying Conditional Formatting:

When applying conditional formatting, you can check the conditions against the cell value, formula, or both of them. Let's explore each of these options in detail:

1. Cell Value:
- By checking the conditions against the cell value, you can apply formatting based on the actual data contained in the cells.
- For example, you can apply conditional formatting to highlight cells that are greater than a certain value, less than a certain value, equal to a specific value, between a range of values, etc.
- This option is useful when you want to format cells based on their numeric values, text values, dates, or other specific data types.

2. Formula:
- Checking the conditions against a formula allows you to apply conditional formatting based on the result of a formula or expression.
- For instance, you can apply conditional formatting to highlight cells that meet a certain mathematical condition, contain specific text or keywords, satisfy logical criteria, etc.
- This option gives you greater flexibility as you can use complex formulas to define your formatting rules.

3. Both of Above:
- The correct answer to the given question is "Both of above" (option C).
- This means that when applying conditional formatting, you have the flexibility to choose whether to check the conditions against the cell value, the formula, or both.
- You can combine different criteria and formats to create customized formatting rules that suit your specific needs.
- This option provides the most comprehensive approach as it allows you to consider both the cell value and the result of a formula when determining the formatting.

In conclusion, when applying conditional formatting in Excel, you can check the conditions against the cell value, formula, or both of them. This flexibility allows you to create visually appealing spreadsheets that highlight and draw attention to specific data based on your desired criteria.