Formulas can often be difficult in Excel. If you aren’t a math whiz, you may not recall the standard order of precedence that Excel uses. For example, within a formula, multiplication is performed before any addition or subtraction and calculations within parenthesis are performed before any others. If you do not understand how Excel is performing a calculation, you can use the Evaluate Formula option to make it clearer.

Within Excel, click the cell you want to evaluate. On the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click Evaluate Formula. Click the Evaluate option to watch as Excel evaluates each step of the formula.

[tags]Excel, Microsoft Office, spreadsheet[/tags]