Formula Fundamentals: Your Superpower in Excel

Imagine you have a magical calculator that never makes mistakes and can do thousands of calculations in seconds. That’s exactly what Excel formulas are!

🎬 The Story of Sarah’s Lemonade Stand

Sarah runs a lemonade stand. She sells lemonade, cookies, and cupcakes. Every day, she writes down how many she sold and how much money she made.

One day, Sarah discovered something amazing: Excel formulas. Instead of adding numbers by hand (and making mistakes!), she could tell Excel to do the math for her—instantly and perfectly!

Let’s learn exactly what Sarah learned.

📝 Formula Entry Basics

What is a Formula?

A formula is a special instruction that tells Excel to calculate something for you.

The Magic Rule: Every formula starts with an equals sign =

Think of = like saying “Hey Excel, I need you to calculate this!”

How to Enter a Formula

1. Click on a cell (like A1)
2. Type = first
3. Type your calculation
4. Press Enter

Example:

=5+3

Excel shows: 8

That’s it! You just wrote your first formula!

Where Do Results Appear?

• The result (8) shows in the cell
• The formula (=5+3) shows in the formula bar at the top

➕ Arithmetic Operators

These are the math symbols Excel understands. Think of them as Excel’s language for math!

Why Asterisk (*) for Multiply?

In school, you write 6 × 7. But keyboards don’t have ×! So computers use * instead.

Sarah’s Example: Sarah sold 15 cups of lemonade at $2 each.

=15*2

Result: $30 — That’s how much she earned!

⚖️ Comparison Operators

These help Excel answer yes or no questions. Excel says TRUE for yes and FALSE for no.

Why Use These?

Sarah’s Example: Did Sarah reach her goal of selling 50 cups today?

=45>=50

Result: FALSE — Not yet! She needs 5 more cups.

🔗 Text Concatenation Operator

Sometimes you want to join words together. The ampersand & does this magic!

Concatenation is just a fancy word for “joining things together.”

How It Works

="Hello" & " " & "World"

Result: Hello World

Notice the " " in the middle? That’s a space! Without it, you’d get “HelloWorld” — all squished together.

Mixing Text and Numbers

="Total: " & 100

Result: Total: 100

Sarah’s Example: She wants to show “Sarah sold 45 cups”

="Sarah sold " & 45 & " cups"

Result: Sarah sold 45 cups

🔢 Order of Operations (PEMDAS)

When a formula has multiple calculations, Excel follows a specific order—just like in math class!

The Order (Remember: PEMDAS)

graph TD
    A["1️⃣ Parentheses #40;#41;"] --> B["2️⃣ Exponents ^"]
    B --> C["3️⃣ Multiply * & Divide /"]
    C --> D["4️⃣ Add + & Subtract -"]

Why This Matters

Look at this formula:

=2+3*4

Wrong thinking: 2+3=5, then 5×4=20 Correct answer: 3×4=12, then 2+12=14

Excel multiplies BEFORE adding!

Use Parentheses to Control Order

=(2+3)*4

Now Excel adds first: 2+3=5, then 5×4=20

Tip: When in doubt, add parentheses! They make your formula clearer.

📍 Relative References

This is where Excel becomes truly magical!

What is a Cell Reference?

Instead of typing numbers, you can point to cells:

=A1+B1

This adds whatever is in cell A1 to whatever is in cell B1.

Why “Relative”?

When you copy a formula, the references move with it!

Example:

• Cell C1 has: =A1+B1
• You copy C1 to C2
• C2 automatically becomes: =A2+B2

It’s like the formula is saying “add the cell to my left and the one two cells to my left” — wherever you put it!

graph TD
    A["C1: =A1+B1"] -->|Copy Down| B["C2: =A2+B2"]
    B -->|Copy Down| C["C3: =A3+B3"]

Sarah’s Example: She has prices in column A and quantities in column B. She writes one formula =A1*B1 in C1, then copies it down. Every row calculates automatically!

🔒 Absolute References

Sometimes you DON’T want references to change when copying. That’s when you lock them!

The Dollar Sign Lock: $

Add $ before what you want to lock:

• $A$1 — Locks BOTH column and row
• This cell reference will NEVER change when copied!

When to Use Absolute References

Sarah’s Example: Tax rate is in cell E1 (let’s say 8%). She wants to calculate tax for every item.

The $E$1 stays the same in every row because it’s locked!

Without the $, copying would give you =A3*E2, =A4*E3 — wrong cells!

🔀 Mixed References

What if you want to lock only the row OR only the column? That’s a mixed reference!

The Two Types

When to Use Each

Lock the Column ($A1): When copying sideways (left/right) but you want to keep the same column.

Lock the Row (A$1): When copying down but you want to keep the same row.

Visual Guide

graph TD
    A["$A$1 = Nothing moves"]
    B["$A1 = Column locked, row moves"]
    C["A$1 = Row locked, column moves"]
    D["A1 = Everything moves"]

Sarah’s Example: She has a multiplication table. Row 1 has numbers 1-5, Column A has numbers 1-5.

In cell B2, she writes:

=$A2*B$1

• $A2 — Always look at column A for the first number
• B$1 — Always look at row 1 for the second number

Copy this one formula everywhere, and the whole multiplication table fills in correctly!

🎯 Quick Reference Card

🌟 You Did It!

You now understand the building blocks of every Excel formula!

Remember:

• Start with =
• Use +, -, *, / for math
• Use <, >, = for comparisons
• Use & to join text
• Use $ to lock references

These are the foundation. Every complex formula you’ll ever see is just combinations of these simple pieces!

Sarah’s lemonade stand is now running like a professional business—and yours can too!