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05                           FORMULAS AND


                                                                                              FUNCTIONS















                           Your Aim

                           to learn about:
                                  Using Formulas to Perform Calculation        Order of Operation
                                   Different Ways to Enter Formulas              Understanding Cell Range
                                    Cell Referencing in Formulas and Its Types          Functions


                 As you know, formulas are  used to perform  calculations in Mathematics. In the same way,
                 MS Excel also allows you to perform calculations by using formulas. In this chapter, we will learn
                 about formulas and different ways to add a formula in a worksheet. We will also learn about
                 different types of built-in functions in Excel.

                     USING FORMULAS TO PERFORM CALCULATION

                 Formulas in MS Excel begin with an equal to (=) sign. When the contents of a cell begin with
                 equal to sign, MS Excel understands that the user has given a formula here. If you don’t enter the
                 equal to sign, Excel will treat your entry as text and the calculation will fail. To show how formulas
                 work, we'll begin with a simple exercise by selecting blank cell A1. Then type = 5 + 5, and press
                 the Enter key. As you press the Enter key, Excel performs the calculation and produces the result
                 as 10 in cell A1. Enter some more formula in other cells and see what results are shown by Excel.
                     1. =8 – 5                2. =8 * 5                  3. =8/5                  4. =8 ^ 5
                   The results will be 3, 40, 1.6 and 32768 respectively. Some formulas based on BEDMAS rule can
                 be entered as:
                     1. =(8 + 5) – (2 + 3) ^ 2             2. =(9/3) * (4 ^ 2) – 5
                 Clickipedia


                   MS Excel follows BEDMAS rule for doing mathematical calculations, where B stands for Brackets,
                   E for Exponentiation, D for Division, M for Multiplication, A for Addition and S for Subtraction.


                 You can also use cell addresses to perform calculation in the following way:




                 Notice that when the cell C1 is selected, the Formula bar shows the formula you just typed. You
                 can also calculate the sum of adjacent cells by pressing the Alt+= keys together after selecting
                 the cells.

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