Mathematics and formulas

Mathematics and formulas

Excel supports a whole range of maths to calculate the data you need. The basics are easy enough to get a grip on:

To start a formula, you need to enter = in a cell first
Use the row and column addresses to perform operations
You can use +, -, / (divide), * (multiply), ^ (power of) and brackets to separate the operations. So for example, typing =(A1+B1)/C2*D5^2 would take the value in A1, add it to the value in B1, then divide it by the value in C2 multiplied by the square of the value in D5. As you update entries in A1, B1, C2 and D5, the formula will also update to reflect this
To simply add up values quickly, use the SUM command. For example, =SUM(A1:A6) would add up all the values in A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6