There are different arithmetic functions that you can execute in Excel. In this post, I’ll show you how to add, subtract, divide and multiply in Excel.
Before we start, let’s look at the symbols that represent the basic arithmetic functions in Excel:
• The ‘+’ symbol is used to add/sum values
• The ‘-‘ symbol is used to subtract values
• The ‘/’ symbol is used to divide values
• The ‘*’ symbol is used to multiply values
Add function in Excel
To start, I’ll show you how to add/sum values in Excel. In our example, we will sum together the numbers 5 and 3:
(1) First, open an Excel spreadsheet, and then double-click on cell A1 to type your function.
For simplicity, I chose to perform the add/sum function in cell A1, but feel free to choose another cell.
(2) Then, type: =5+3
(3) Finally, press Enter. The result of your operation will now appear in cell A1:
Subtract function in Excel
In this example, we will perform a subtract operation of 9-4:
(1) Firstly, double-click on cell A1
(2) Then, type: =9-4
(3) Finally, press Enter. The result of your operation will now appear in cell A1:
Divide function in Excel
Now, we will preform the divide operation of 12/3:
(1) First, double-click on cell A1
(2) Then, type: =12/3
(3) Finally, press Enter and you’ll get:
Multiply function in Excel
Here, we will multiply the numbers 5 and 4 as follows:
(1) To start, double-click on cell A1
(2) Then, type: =5*4
(3) Finally, press Enter. You’ll now see the result of your operation in cell A1:
Performing a combination of arithmetic operations in Excel
To start, let’s store the numbers 22, 2, and 5 in cells A1, B1 and C1 respectively.
We will then review how to preform a combination of the following arithmetic operations:
(1) Add and subtract
(2) Subtract and multiply
(3) Subtract, multiply and divide
Add and subtract
Now, let’s perform the following operation of 22-2+5:
(1) First, double-click on cell A3 to type your operations.
We will use the cell A3 to populate the result of our arithmetic operation (but feel free to use another cell if you’d like).
(2) Then, type: =A1-B1+C1
(3) Finally, press Enter. You’ll now see the result of your operation in cell A3:
Subtract and multiply
Now, we will subtract and multiply as follows: (22-2) * 5
(1) Initially, double-click on cell A3 to type your function
(2) Then, type: =(A1-B1)*C1
(3) Press Enter:
Subtract, multiply and divide
Finally, we will review how to subtract, multiply and divide as follows: (22-2)*5 – 10/2
(1) As before, double-click on cell A3 to type your function
(2) Then, type: =(A1-B1)*C1 – 10/2
(3) Finally, press Enter. The result of your operation will be displayed in cell A3:
We just reviewed the different types of arithmetic functions that you can preform in Excel.
If you want to learn more about the SUM function, check the post about the different ways in which you can sum values in Excel.
In general, there is a large number of different functions that you can execute in Excel, such as the Max function, or the VLOOKUP function.