If you have ever taken a look at a formula in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, it can be very intimidating. And the software's terminology doesn't make understanding them any easier. But here's a way to think about formulas that will make them easier to understand. A formula is nothing more than an equation. If you think back to elementary school, you’ll remember an equation looking like this:

1+1=2

The only problem with this is that the spreadsheet doesn't know how to interpret it. It doesn't know whether to display or calculate it. So what we must do is talk the spreadsheet’s language. Simply, we’ll tell the spreadsheet that this cell equals 1+1 or =1+1.

Now the spreadsheet looks at it and says, “Oh, this cell equals 1+1; you want me to calculate this.” And it displays 2.

That’s it. Really. We always start a formula in a spreadsheet with an equal sign so that we shift Excel from display mode into calculate mode. And it helps if you remember that “this cell equals” in order not to forget the equal sign. If you would like more help using formulas, contact us to schedule a one-on-one training appointment.