Excel 2010 Bible

Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions

196

Note
When you’re working with a table, a feature introduced in Excel 2007 enables you to create formulas that use
column names from the table — which can make your formulas much easier to read. I discuss table formulas
later in this chapter. (See “Using Formulas In Tables.”) n

After you enter a formula, the cell displays the calculated result of the formula. The formula itself

appears in the Formula bar when you select the cell, however.

Here are a few examples of formulas:

=150*.05 Multiplies 150 times 0.05. This formula uses only values, and it

always returns the same result. You could just enter the value 7.5

into the cell.

=A1+A2 Adds the values in cells A1 and A2.

=Income–Expenses Subtracts the value in the cell named Expenses from the value in

the cell named Income.

=SUM(A1:A12) Adds the values in the range A1:A12.

=A1=C12 Compares cell A1 with cell C12. If the cells are identical, the formula

returns TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE.

Tip
Formulas always begin with an equal sign so that Excel can distinguish them from text. n

Using operators in formulas ....................................................................................

Excel lets you use a variety of operators in your formulas. Operators are symbols that indicate what

mathematical operation you want the formula to perform. Table 10.1 lists the operators that Excel

recognizes. In addition to these, Excel has many built-in functions that enable you to perform

additional calculations.

TABLE 10.1

Operators Used in Formulas

Operator Name

+ Addition

• Subtraction

• Multiplication
  / Division
  ^ Exponentiation
  & Concatenation