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Checking if a calculation adheres to Order of Precedence

When writing formulas you must make sure that results will be calculated as you intended.

Excel adheres to the standard order of precedence for calculations. It calculates percentages, exponents, multiplication, and division in this order before calculating addition and subtraction.

For example, =7+5*3 results in an answer of 22, not 36.

To force a calculation to be completed before another calculations, place the section in parentheses: =(7+5)*3 will result in 36.

To check how excel is evaluating a formula, click on the cell and select the 'Tools' menu, select 'Formula Auditing' and click 'Evaluate Formula'

In the dialog box click on 'Evaluate' to watch as each part of the formula is successively calculated.

Added by Carlos on 26th September 2006

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