Calculating the Value of Cells

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Calculating the Value of Cells
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Working Example In your worksheet, youre given
the unit cost, the number of items purchased at
that price and the tax rate. What you want to
calculate is the total of the items including the
tax. So how are you going to do that?

• Set up the worksheet as shown

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• In the cell where you want the result of your
  formula to be placed, type in an equal () sign.

• Left CLICK in the cell containing the Unit Cost.
  Notice that the cell number (A2) is placed in
  your formula.

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• You want to multiply the Unit Cost x No. of Items
  to find the total cost of those items. Using
  the keyboard, type in (the is used
  as the multiplication symbol)
• Left CLICK on the cell containing the No. of
  Items. Again, notice that the characters are
  entered into the formula.

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• The format for calculating the tax on an amount
  is
• Tax Rate x (Unit Cost x No. of Items)
• To include the tax in your total, you have to ADD
  that amount into your formula.

• The finished formula should look like the one
  shown here

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• Press ENTER
• The result of your formula will be placed in the
  Total cell.

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Okay, youve made a formula that calculates the
Total price including tax for an item. But, what
if you have several items in your list that you
need a Total for? Do you have to go through all
those steps all over again for each one? The
simple answer is NO!
The neat thing about Excel is that when you
reference cells in a formula, you can use
AutoFill to modify the reference formula to cells
relative to the first one you calculate. What
that means, is that you can create a whole series
of calculations by creating a single calculation
and then filling cells with the formula (Excel
adjusts the formula to fit the rows and columns
of table).
The next few slides will walk you through an
example of this.
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• First, lets add some other Unit Costs and No. of
  Items to our worksheet. The Tax Rate remains the
  same throughout.

• Left CLICK on the cell that has our total
  calculation
• Move your cursor to the lower right corner of
  that cell until it changes to a single line cross.

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• Left CLICK on that corner, hold down the mouse
  button and drag the box down to the last cell in
  that column.
• EXCEL adjusts your initial formula and will fill
  in the Totals for each of your rows

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• To check your formula in these other cells,
  simply Left CLICK on one of the cells and you can
  review the formula in the Function line above
  your worksheet.

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Thanks for viewing this Tutorial. Any questions,
comments or complaints can be registered at the
next class meeting, via email or drop by my
office.
Email rstrube_at_mail.accd.edu
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REFERENCES
Shelly, Cashman Vermaat. 2006. Microsoft Office
2003, Introductory Concepts Techniques. Thomson
Course Technology. Boston, MA.