By enclosing the addition operation in parentheses =2*(4+7), you instruct Excel to add up 4 and 7 first, and then multiply the sum by 2. Like you do in math, you can change the order of Excel calculations by enclosing the part to be calculated first in parentheses.įor example, the calculation =2*4+7 tells Excel to multiply 2 by 4, and then add 7 to the product.
How to change the order of calculations in Excel Since the order of calculations affects the final result, you need to know how to change it. You can also compare cells by using logical operators such as "greater than" (>), "less than" (=), and "less than or equal to" (, =, <=, =) The results of the above Excel calculation formulas may look something similar to this:Īpart from that, you can combine values from two or more cells in a single cell by using the concatenation operator (&) like this:Ī space character (" ") is concatenated in between cells to separate the words: Raises the number in A2 to the power of 3.įinds the square root of the number in A1. Subtracts the number in A2 from the number in A1.ĭivides the number in A1 by the number in A2. The following table shows how to perform basic arithmetic calculations in Excel. Instead of entering numbers directly in your calculation formula, you can put them in separate cells, and then reference those cells in your formula, e.g. Press the Enter key to complete your calculation.For example, to add up 5 and 7, you type =5+7 Type the equation you want to calculate.This tells Excel that you are entering a formula, not just numbers.
For this, Excel provides a few hundred predefined formulas, called Excel functions. When it comes to calculations, there is almost noting that Microsoft Excel cannot do, from totaling a column of numbers to solving complex linear programming problems. The tutorial shows how to do arithmetic calculations in Excel and change the order of operations in your formulas.