Creating & Entering Formula

The real strength of a worksheet lies in its ability to carry out calculations. A Worksheet that does not contain calculations could have been created using a word-processing package instead.

• Activate Excel.
• From the File menu, select Open.
• Click on the 6 to the right of the Look in: box. 
• Select the drive called work file on ‘Dudley’(T:).
• Double-click on the folder its.
• Double-click on the folder Excel.
• Select the file Data_for_Calculations.xls and click the Open button

All formula begin with an equals (=) sign. If you forget to type the =, therest of the line will probably be entered into the cell as a piece of text.

1  In the Data_for_Calculations workbook, click in B2 and type =8+4 The formula will be displayed on the formula bar.

2  Press the Enter key (or one of the arrow keys) to lock the formula in.The cell B2 now contains a formula (=8+4), but the answer 12 is displayed on-screen.

3  Click in B2 to check the formula. Formula can contain values, cell references, mathematical operators and functions.