Tip #3806 - Step By Step
Printer Friendly Version | E-Mail This Tip
Step
By Step
Ever find yourself
asking, "Now, how did Excel calculate that"?
Well, as most of you
probably know, MS Excel uses the standard order of operations (yep, just
like you learned in school) to evaluate formulas.
But, even with that
knowledge, it's possible that you're not realizing exactly the order of
how things will be done.
If you catch yourself
debating a set of parentheses or wondering about the order Excel will
use to evaluate your formula, here's a quick way to see precisely what's
happening, step by step.
First, you need to
select the cell with the formula.
Now, we need the Tools
menu, Formula Auditing submenu, Evaluate Formula
choice. Or, if you have the Formula Auditing toolbar open, you
can use the Evaluate Formula button.
The Formula Auditing
window will open first, displaying the formula as it is in the cell.
At this point, you
need to click the Evaluate button at the bottom.
For every click,
you'll see that Excel takes one (and only one) step in the formula evaluation
process. You can tell which step will be next by the underline. Whatever
is underlined will be next.
It first starts out
by replacing cell references with their values and then it moves on to
actually using the order of operations to complete the math.
When you've either
seen enough or gotten to the final answer, click the Close button
to get back to the workbook.
There you have it.
Step by step formula evaluation and removing all the "math mysteries"
they can pose!
~ April
Want To Comment On This Tip? Click Here! We'd love to hear from you :-)
Like These Tips? Get 'Em Free In Your E-mail
