Datasheet

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PART II

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GETTING THE DATA IN

Figure 4.11. Open the cell, click in the reference (in the cell

or in the Formula bar), press F4 to cycle, and press Enter.

Writing formulas

You’ll probably need to do more calculations in your workbooks than

AutoSum can do for you, which means learning how to write formulas.

Arithmetic operators

A simple formula might consist of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and

dividing cells. Excel’s arithmetic operators are detailed in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1. Arithmetic operators

Operator Description

+ (plus sign) Addition

– (minus sign) Subtraction

* (asterisk) Multiplication

/ (forward slash) Division

^ (caret) Exponentiation

() (parentheses) To group operations, such as =(2+3)*4, which gives a dif-

ferent result than =2+3*4

Click in reference and press F4

Bright Idea

Here’s a formula that uses arithmetic operators and a simple function to cal-

culate the circumference of a circle, rr

: =PI()*ref^2. Specify a cell in the ref

argument and type the radius of the circle in that cell; then you can use this

formula repeatedly by changing the radius entered in the ref cell.

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