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Calculating With Formulae

All formulae begin with an equals sign. The formulae may contain numbers, text, arithmetic operators, logic operators or functions. Other data is also possible, such as format details.

Remember that the basic arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /) can be used in formulae using the "Multiplication and Division before Addition and Subtraction" rule. Instead of writing =SUM(A1:B1) you can write =A1+B1.

Parentheses (round brackets) can also be used. The result of the formula =(1+2)*3 produces a different result from =1+2*3.

Here are a few examples of Office Calc formulae:

=A1+10 Displays the contents of cell A1 plus 10.
=A1*16% Displays 16% of the contents of A1.
=A1 * A2 Displays the result of the multiplication of A1 and A2.
=ROUND(A1;1) Displays the contents of cell A1 rounded to one decimal place.
=EFFECTIVE(5%;12) Calculates the effective interest for 5% annual nominal interest with 12 payments a year.
=B8-SUM(B10:B14) Calculates B8 minus the sum of the cells B10 to B14.
=SUM(B8; SUM(B10:B14)) Calculates the sum of cells B10 to B14 and adds the value to B8.

It is also possible to nest functions in formulae, as shown in the example. You can also nest functions within functions. The Function Wizard assists you with nested functions.