Writing a Formula
Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Excel journey — lesson 12 of 42.
Time to write formulas yourself. The recipe is always the same: click a cell, type =, type the calculation, press Enter.
=4+3
=10*5
=20-8
=9/3The symbols are mostly what you'd expect: + adds and - subtracts. Two look different from school math: * (the asterisk) multiplies, there's no × key, and / (the slash) divides.
A formula isn't limited to two numbers. Chain as many as you like:
=1+2+3+4For now our formulas use plain numbers, so the answer never changes, =4+3 is a fancy way to write 7. That's fine for practice; in the next lesson formulas start pulling numbers from other cells, and that's where spreadsheets get their superpowers.
Challenge
BeginnerThe sheet has two labels waiting for results: A1 says Sum and A2 says Product.
Write a formula (starting with =!) in each cell next to its label:
- In
B1: add 4 and 3 with a formula - In
B2: multiply 10 by 5 with a formula
Try it yourself
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sum | ||||||
| 2 | Product | ||||||
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Test yourselfThis 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 ReferencesYour First CellsRows, Columns and the GridRecap: Meet the Grid2Entering Data
Text and NumbersBuilding a Small TableEditing and Clearing CellsNumbers That Mean SomethingRecap: Entering Data3Your First Formula
What Is a Formula?Writing a FormulaFormulas with CellsArithmetic OperatorsOrder of OperationsRecap: First Formulas