Arithmetic Operators

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Excel journey — lesson 14 of 42.

You've met + and *. Here's the full toolbox of arithmetic operators, the symbols formulas calculate with:

=B1+B2   addition
=B1-B2   subtraction
=B1*B2   multiplication
=B1/B2   division
=B1^B2   power

The new face is ^ (the caret), which raises a number to a power: =2^3 means 2×2×2 and shows 8, and =5^2 is 5 squared, 25.

Division is happy to produce decimals: =10/4 shows 2.5. No rounding, no fuss, Excel keeps the exact answer.

All five operators work the same way with cell references. If B1 holds 8 and B2 holds 2, then =B1/B2 shows 4 and =B1^B2 shows 64, and if the data changes, every result follows along.

Challenge

Easy

The sheet holds two numbers: x in B1 and y in B2. Below them, column A lists five calculations waiting for formulas.

Fill in column B using cell references:

B4: x plus y
B5: x minus y
B6: x times y
B7: x divided by y
B8: x to the power y

Your formulas will be tested with different values of x and y, so reference B1 and B2, don't type the numbers.

Try it yourself

Sheet1

	A	B
1	x	8
2	y	2
3
4	x + y
5	x - y
6	x * y
7	x / y
8	x ^ y
9
10
11
12
13
14

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Meet the Spreadsheet

What Is a Spreadsheet?Cells and References Your First Cells Rows, Columns and the Grid Recap: Meet the Grid

4Cell References

Referencing Other Cells Formulas That Update Chained Formulas Ranges from A1 to A10 Recap: Cell References

7Decisions with IF

The IF Function Writing an IF Comparison Operators Nested IFs Recap: Decisions with IF

2Entering Data

Text and Numbers Building a Small Table Editing and Clearing Cells Numbers That Mean Something Recap: Entering Data

5Basic Functions

What Is a Function The SUM Function The AVERAGE Function MIN and MAX COUNT and COUNTA Combining Functions Recap: Basic Functions

8Project: Grade Book

Grade Book Setup Totals and Averages Pass or Fail with IF Finishing the Grade Book

3Your First Formula

What Is a Formula?Writing a Formula Formulas with CellsArithmetic OperatorsOrder of Operations Recap: First Formulas

6Working with Text

Joining Text UPPER and LOWER Measuring Text with LEN LEFT, RIGHT and MID Recap: Working with Text