Your first formulas

2 min read Quiz included

The power of a spreadsheet is that formulas refer to other cells. Change a number, and every formula that depends on it updates instantly.

Formulas with cell references

	A	B	C	D
1	Item	Price	Qty	Total
2	Coffee	3.50	2	`=B2*C2`
3	Bagel	2.25	3	`=B3*C3`

D2 contains =B2*C2, so it shows 7.00. Change C2 to 5 and D2 becomes 17.50 automatically.

Operators

Operator	Meaning	Example
`+` `-`	add, subtract	`=B2+B3`
`*` `/`	multiply, divide	`=B2*1.18`
`^`	power	`=2^10`
`&`	join text	`=A2&" x "&C2`
`=` `<>` `<` `>` `<=` `>=`	compare (gives TRUE/FALSE)	`=B2>3`

Order of operations

Excel follows the usual maths order: brackets, then ^, then * and /, then + and -.

Excel formula

=2+3*4        → 14
=(2+3)*4      → 20
=B2*(1+18%)   → price including 18% tax

Fill down instead of retyping

Write the formula once in D2, then drag the small square at the cell's bottom-right corner (the fill handle) down to D3, D4... Excel adjusts the references for each row: D3 gets =B3*C3. Double-clicking the fill handle fills to the end of your data automatically.

This adjusting is called relative referencing, and the next lesson shows when you don't want it.

Common errors

Error	Means
`#DIV/0!`	division by zero (or by an empty cell)
`#VALUE!`	the wrong type, such as text in a calculation
`#NAME?`	a misspelled function name or missing quotes around text
`#REF!`	a reference to a cell that was deleted
`#N/A`	a lookup didn't find a match
`######`	not an error: the column is too narrow to show the number

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