Universal formulas for any given row

  • Thread starter Thread starter lamontd7
  • Start date Start date
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lamontd7

Hello, I am new to Excel and I need help with creating formulas. I am
trying to create a few formulas that will perform simple mathematical
operations on data contained in any given row of the spreadsheet. I
think I have figured out how to create a formula if I specify exactly
which cells I want to perform mathematical operations on (i.e.,
entering "=A2+B2" into cell C2), but what I really need is to create
universal formulas that, for any given row, will sum the values of
column A and column B of that same row (i.e, cell CX=AX+BX, where X
could be any given row). For Row 5, for example, the formula would be
C5=A5+B5, but since entering a new formula into each cell one by one
wouldn't save me any time compared to just calculating the sums
manually, I am wondering if/how I can create a general formula that
will leave the row undefined and just perform mathematical operations
on two or more columns which I specify, for any given row in the
spreadsheet. In other words, I want to associate with column C a
formula that, for any given row, will sum the values in columns A and B
of that same row. Can anyone tell me how to do that?

Thank you for any help you can give me.
 
It's very simple, Lamont. You only need to learn about the Fill Handle. Type
your =A2+B2 and then use the fill handle. See this article for a
demonstration. It's incredibly simple.
http://www.officearticles.com/excel/best_tips_for_using_microsoft_excel.htm
For a beginner Excel user, you may want to take my tutorial. It will teach
you many time-saving tricks in Excel very quickly, and there's even a sample
data file for you to work with.
http://www.officearticles.com/tutorials/an_extreme_tutorial_in_microsoft_excel.htm
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com
 
Hi Lamont,

Take a look at use of the fill handle
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/fillhand.htm
the rows adjust as you fill down, the columns adjust as you fill across.
If you don't want the adjustment use $ in front of column $A1 to
prevent the column from adjusting as you fill across, or a $ in front
of the row number as in A$1 to prevent the row from adjusting
as you fill down with the fill handle.

You can do what you indicate for addition though it isn't used much
D2: =A:A +B:B +C:C
normall one would use
D2: =SUM(A2:C2) or D2: =A2+B2+C2

For a total you can use
D20: =SUM(D$2:D19)
but you can't insert a row above that and be in the total so, better to use
D20: =SUM(D$2:OFFSET(D20,-1,0))
which is D20 offset back one row, and no adjustment to column
 
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