Menu
×
   ❮   
HTML CSS JAVASCRIPT SQL PYTHON JAVA PHP HOW TO W3.CSS C C++ C# BOOTSTRAP REACT MYSQL JQUERY EXCEL XML DJANGO NUMPY PANDAS NODEJS R TYPESCRIPT ANGULAR GIT POSTGRESQL MONGODB ASP AI GO KOTLIN SASS VUE DSA GEN AI SCIPY AWS CYBERSECURITY DATA SCIENCE
     ❯   

Excel Tutorial

Excel HOME Excel Introduction Excel Get Started Excel Overview Excel Syntax Excel Ranges Excel Fill Excel Move Cells Excel Add Cells Excel Delete Cells Excel Undo Redo Excel Formulas Excel Relative Reference Excel Absolute Reference Excel Arithmetic Operators Excel Parentheses Excel Functions

Excel Formatting

Excel Formatting Excel Format Painter Excel Format Colors Excel Format Fonts Excel Format Borders Excel Format Numbers Excel Format Grids Excel Format Settings

Excel Data Analysis

Excel Sort Excel Filter Excel Tables Excel Conditional Format Excel Highlight Cell Rules Excel Top Bottom Rules Excel Data Bars Excel Color Scales Excel Icon Sets Excel Manage Rules (CF) Excel Charts

Table Pivot

Table Pivot Intro

Excel Case

Case: Poke Mart Case: Poke Mart, Styling

Excel Functions

AND AVERAGE AVERAGEIF AVERAGEIFS CONCAT COUNT COUNTA COUNTBLANK COUNTIF COUNTIFS IF IFS LEFT LOWER MAX MEDIAN MIN MODE NPV OR RAND RIGHT STDEV.P STDEV.S SUM SUMIF SUMIFS TRIM VLOOKUP XOR

Excel How To

Convert Time to Seconds Difference Between Times NPV (Net Present Value) Remove Duplicates

Excel Examples

Excel Exercises Excel Certificate

Excel References

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts


Excel Formulas


Formulas

A formula in Excel is used to do mathematical calculations. Formulas always start with the equal sign (=) typed in the cell, followed by your calculation.

Formulas can be used for calculations such as:

  • =1+1
  • =2*2
  • =4/2=2

It can also be used to calculate values using cells as input.

Let's have a look at an example.

Type or copy the following values:

Now we want to do a calculation with those values.

Step by step:

  1. Select C1 and type (=)
  2. Left click A1
  3. Type (+)
  4. Left click A2
  5. Press enter


You got it! You have successfully calculated A1(2) + A2(4) = C1(6).

Note: Using cells to make calculations is an important part of Excel and you will use this alot as you learn.

Lets change from addition to multiplication, by replacing the (+) with a (*). It should now be =A1*A2, press enter to see what happens.

You got C1(8), right? Well done!

Excel is great in this way. It allows you to add values to cells and make you do calculations on them.

Now, try to change the multiplication (*) to subtraction (-) and dividing (/).

Delete all values in the sheet after you have tried the different combinations.

Let's add new data for the next example, where we will help the Pokemon trainers to count their Pokeballs.

Type or copy the following values:

Copy Values

The data explained:

  • Column A: Pokemon Trainers
  • Row 1: Types of Pokeballs
  • Range B2:D4: Amount of Pokeballs, Great balls and Ultra balls

Note: It is important to practice reading data to understand its context. In this example you should focus on the trainers and their Pokeballs, which have three different types: Pokeball, Great ball and Ultra ball.



Let's help Iva to count her Pokeballs. You find Iva in A2(Iva). The values in row 2 B2(2), C2(3), D2(1) belong to her.

Count the Pokeballs, step by step:

  1. Select cell E2 and type (=)
  2. Left click B2
  3. Type (+)
  4. Left click C2
  5. Type (+)
  6. Left click D2
  7. Hit enter


Did you get the value E2(6)? Good job! You have helped Iva to count her Pokeballs.

Now, let's help Liam and Adora with counting theirs.

Do you remember the fill function that we learned about earlier? It can be used to continue calculations sidewards, downwards and upwards. Let's try it!

Lets use the fill function to continue the formula, step by step:

  1. Select E2
  2. Fill E2:E4

That is cool, right? The fill function continued the calculation that you used for Iva and was able to understand that you wanted to count the cells in the next rows as well.

Now we have counted the Pokeballs for all three; Iva(6), Liam(12) and Adora(15).

Let's see how many Pokeballs Iva, Liam and Adora have in total.

The total is called SUM in Excel.

There are two ways to calculate the SUM.

  • Adding cells
  • SUM function

Excel has many pre-made functions available for you to use. The SUM function is one of the most used ones. You will learn more about functions in a later chapter.

Let's try both approaches.

Note: You can navigate to the cells with your keyboard arrows instead of left clicking them. Try it!

Sum by adding cells, step by step:

  1. Select cell E5, and type =
  2. Left click E2
  3. Type (+)
  4. Left click E3
  5. Type (+)
  6. Left click E4
  7. Hit enter


The result is E5(33).

Let's try the SUM function.

Remember to delete the values that you currently have in E5.

SUM function, step by step:

  1. Type E5(=)
  2. Write SUM
  3. Double click SUM in the menu
  4. Mark the range E2:E4
  5. Hit enter




Great job! You have successfully calculated the SUM using the SUM function.

Iva, Liam and Adora have 33 Pokeballs in total.

Let's change a value to see what happens. Type B2(7):

The value in cell B2 was changed from 2 to 7. Notice that the formulas are doing calculations when we change the value in the cells, and the SUM is updated from 33 to 38. It allows us to change values that are used by the formulas, and the calculations remain.


Chapter Summary

Values used in formulas can be typed directly and by using cells. The formula updates the result if you change the value of cells, which is used in the formula. The fill function can be used to continue your formulas upwards, downwards and sidewards. Excel has pre-built functions, such as SUM.

In the next chapter you will learn about relative and absolute references.


Test Yourself With Exercises

Excel Exercise:

Complete the Excel formula:

8+10

Start the Exercise


×

Contact Sales

If you want to use W3Schools services as an educational institution, team or enterprise, send us an e-mail:
sales@w3schools.com

Report Error

If you want to report an error, or if you want to make a suggestion, send us an e-mail:
help@w3schools.com

W3Schools is optimized for learning and training. Examples might be simplified to improve reading and learning. Tutorials, references, and examples are constantly reviewed to avoid errors, but we cannot warrant full correctness of all content. While using W3Schools, you agree to have read and accepted our terms of use, cookie and privacy policy.

Copyright 1999-2024 by Refsnes Data. All Rights Reserved. W3Schools is Powered by W3.CSS.