To combine the month and day into a "Date" format in Excel, which function should be used?

To combine the month and day into a "Date" format in Excel, utilizing the CONCAT function is effective because it allows you to concatenate (or join) various text strings together. This is particularly useful when you want to create a unified entry that reflects a specific date format. While CONCAT can join different strings, it doesn't inherently convert them into a date format; rather, it can bring together necessary components that can then be transformed into a date if necessary.

For example, if you have individual components like the month in one cell and the day in another, CONCAT can be used to assemble these components into a single string form, which might then be interpreted by Excel as a date value if formatted correctly. However, it's important to note that simply using CONCAT alone does not guarantee that the resultant string will be recognized as a date unless Excel can interpret it based on your formatting expectations.

The other functions have different purposes. JOIN is not a standard Excel function; SUM is meant for numerical addition, and TEXT is used for formatting numbers or dates into specified text formats but doesn't concatenate. Therefore, for directly combining pieces of data, CONCAT is the function that aligns with the task of merging the values into a single string.