Excel Guide
Basic Excel Formulas Every Beginner Should Know
Before pivot tables and VLOOKUP, every Excel user starts with the same four operators. Here's how they work, and the one habit that separates a spreadsheet that updates itself from one you have to fix by hand.
The four basic operators
Excel formulas always start with an equals sign (=). After that, you can combine numbers, cell references, and operators just like a calculator:
The difference between Excel and a calculator is what's on the left of each operator: instead of typing =12+8, you reference the cells that hold those numbers. That one habit is the whole point of a spreadsheet.
Why cell references matter
If A1 holds a price and A2 holds a quantity, =A1*A2 gives you the total. Change the price in A1, and the total updates automatically — no retyping, no re-checking your math. A formula that hardcodes the numbers instead, like =12*8, breaks that link and has to be manually fixed every time the inputs change.
Order of operations
Excel follows the same order of operations as basic math: multiplication and division happen before addition and subtraction, left to right. Use parentheses to control the order explicitly:
A worked example
Say A1 holds your monthly income (5000) and A2 holds your monthly expenses (3200). A formula in A3 that returns what's left over is:
That's it — no need to manually subtract and retype the answer. If your income or expenses change next month, A3 updates itself.
Try it yourself
PractiseSkills has 10 free arithmetic exercises with a real interactive spreadsheet — type a formula, get instant feedback.
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