122 PCWorld APRIL 2020HERE’S HOW EXCEL FUNCTIONS AND TOOLS
results are the same.
You can enter the SUM function
(or + sign) manually or select it from
the Ribbon menu under Formulas >
Math & Trig (button), then choose
from the drop-down list; or choose
(from the Ribbon menu) Formulas >
Insert Function, then scroll down the
list and select it from there.
If you just want to add a single
column of numbers, position your
cursor in the cell at the bottom of that
column, click the AutoSum button >
SUM, and press Enter. Excel frames
the column of numbers in green
borders and displays the formula in
the current cell.
The problem comes when the
range of numbers you need to
calculate gets complicated with
multiple calculation operators over multiple
cells. For example: =SUM(H1+I1*J1-M1*J1.
Remember your high school math? If the
numbers inside the formula are not grouped
properly, the answer will be wrong. Notice
the screenshot below (figure 2).
Enter the following column headers in
H2 through P2 (use Alt+ Enter to stack
headers in a single cell): Daily Earnings, Plus
Bonuses, Times Days Worked, Gross Pay,
(formula), Minus Meals at $9.00 per day,
Total Monthly Earnings, Formula, and
Comment.
NOTE: The formula columns are FYI onlyand provide no intrinsic value to the
spreadsheet. They just “display” the formula
for your benefit (so you can see the syntax of
each formula used).
For this exercise, you can enter the same
values in H3:11, I3:11, and J3:11, with or
without the blank rows in between (again,
added for easier viewing). Complete as
follows: $86.00, $20.00, 22.0 workdays,
and the rest are formulas. Note that as we
build each formula, we are combining the
steps, eventually, into a single formula.
We start out with three separate
formulas. The first is to add the DailySum functions using multiple calculation operators.