Page 93 - Excel Workbook for Dummies

10_798452 ch05.qxp 3/13/06 7:44 PM Page 76
76 Part II: Using Formulas and Functions
• Type + (the addition operator)
• Press the ← one time to select B4 (the second operand)

• If the formula reads =A4+B4, click the Enter button on the Formula bar
9. Use this same pointing technique to create an addition formula in cell A5 that
adds 5 to the value in cell A4 above.
The addition formula in cell A5 should read =A4+5 on the Formula bar and the
answer should appear as 133 in the cell.
10. With the cell cursor in cell A5, drag the Fill handle down to the cell range A6:A8.
Excel copies the original formula you entered into cell A5 down to cells A6, A7,
and A8, which now contain the calculated values, 138, 143, and 148, respectively.
11. Build the following arithmetic formulas in the designated cells:
• Subtraction formula in cell C5 that subtracts the value in cell B5 from that
in cell A5 — remember that - (hyphen or dash) is the subtraction operator
in Excel.
• Division formula in cell C6 that divides the value in cell A6 by that in B6 —
remember that / (forward slash) is the division operator in Excel.
• Multiplication formula in cell C7 that multiplies the value in cell A7 by that
in B7 — remember that * (asterisk) is the multiplication operator in Excel.
• Exponentiation formula in cell C8 that raises the value in cell A8 by that in
cell B8 — remember that ^ (caret) is the exponentiation operator in Excel.
12. Save your workbook with the filename Practice Formulas.xls in the Chapter 5
folder inside the My Practice Spreadsheet folder, and then open Solved5-1.xls and
compare your results before proceeding to Exercise 5-2.

Arithmetic formulas in the spreadsheet (when properly formed) always return numeric
results. Excel supports another type of formula, known as a comparative formula,
which returns only one of two possible results, TRUE or FALSE. Exercise 5-2 gives you
some practice in creating these types of formulas.

Try It

Exercise 5-2: Building Comparative Formulas
Use the Practice Formulas.xls workbook that you created in Exercise 5-1 to get some
experience with building comparative formulas:

1. Build a comparative formula in cell D4 that weighs the value in cell A4 against
that in B4 and indicates whether they are equal to each other:
• Type = in cell D4 to begin the formula
• Press the ← key three times to select cell A4
• Type = again, this time as the comparative operator
• Press the ← key twice to select cell B4 so that the formula now reads,
=A4=B4
• Click the Enter button on the Formula bar to complete the formula and
compute the result (which is FALSE because the values in these two cells
are not currently equal to one another)