excel courses in london - I am very confused about how to use formulas, call me silly but!

Hi Olga

Thank you for your question.

Formulas in Excel can be confusing, however they are very useful. The main advantage of formulas is that they will automatically recalculate - if any of the inputs into the formula change, then the formula result will automatically change.

For example, if you typed 2 into cell A1 in Excel, and you typed 1 into cell B1, then in cell C1 type =A1+B1 and press Enter. The formula in cell C1 should display 3 (the number in cell A1 added to the number in cell B1). Try changing the numbers in cells A1 and B1 and you should see the result in cell C1 change as you make changes to the two numbers.
This is automatic recalculation.

If you replace what is in cell C1 with =A1-B1 the cell will show the result of minusing the number in cell B1 from the number in cell A1. Again, if you change the numbers in these cells, the result of the formula will change.

If you wish to multiply then use an asterisk * in place of the - sign in the formula above. If you wish to divide, use /

Lastly when you are creating formulas the first thing you must always enter into a cell is =

I hope this helps.
Amanda