Excel Basics: Formulas and Functions
Using a spreadsheet to organize tables of numbers and text is just scratching the surface
of Excel's potential. The real power is doing calculations on the entries automatically.
Formulas: Basic Arithmetic
Formulas begin with an equals sign, and refer to cells on the worksheet by their column
letter and row number. The upper left-hand cell is cell "A1"; the lower right-hand cell is
"IV65536".
Add, subtract, multiply, divide
Add C6 to B6
=B6+C6
Subtract C6 from B6
=B6-C6
Multiply B6 by C6
=B6*C6
Divide B6 by C6
=B6/C6
You can work on more than two cells at a time: =B6+C6-D6+E6
Use parentheses to group things together: =B6*(C6-D6+E6)
Copying simple formulas
When working with a whole table of things, you only have to type the formula once for
the first row or column of the table, then copy the formula for the others.
• Edit -> Copy, then Edit -> Paste
• Edit -> Fill -> Down or Right
Excel automatically adjusts all the cell addresses for their new location.
Absolute addresses
Sometimes you want to refer to a "constant" cell in formulas; then you need an absolute
address. Put a dollar sign in front of the column letter and row number:
=E21*D6 becomes =$E$21*D6
Then Excel will leave that address alone when it's copied. Why two dollar signs?
Because Excel can also have mixed addresses, where it won't change the column letter
(like $E21) or the row number (like E$21) when the formula is copied but will change the
other. While entering a cell address, pressing <Ctrl/T> will cycle through the
possibilities.
Functions: Mathemagical Black Boxes
Functions are tools to be used in formulas. Think of them as a black box: put something
in one end of the box and something else comes out the other end. There are hundreds of
functions, for doing things from trigonometry to text manipulation to statistics to looking
up values in a table. You can see the whole selection with the Insert -> Function
command. Functions can be used in f