Course outline / Excel basics
Lesson 3 of 75 · Beginner · 3 exercises
Working with cells
Use cell addresses and brackets to build calculations that update themselves.
What you'll practise
- Subtract one cell from another
- Use brackets to control the order
- Combine two totals
Subtract one cell from another
This small business tracks its monthly income and costs. Profit is simply income minus costs.
In cell E2, work out January's profit: the income in B2 minus the costs in C2.
Use brackets to control the order
Excel follows the usual maths order: it multiplies and divides before it adds and subtracts. Brackets change that order, because whatever is inside them is worked out first.
So =(10-4)/2 gives 3, but =10-4/2 gives 8.
In cell E2, find January's profit as a share of income: the profit (B2-C2) in brackets, divided by B2.
Combine two totals
A formula can combine several functions. Here you need total income and total costs, then the difference between them.
In cell E2, work out total profit for all three months: the SUM of B2:B4 minus the SUM of C2:C4.
Try it in a real spreadsheet
Every step checks your answer instantly and tells you exactly what to fix.