Google Drive and Docs In 30 Minutes: The unofficial guide to Google's free online office and storage suite by Lamont Ian

Author:Lamont, Ian [Lamont, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: The unofficial guide to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides
Publisher: i30 Media
Published: 2015-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

Your worksheet should look like this:

Adding these numbers together in our heads would be slow, and we might make mistakes. Doing it with a pen and paper would be time-consuming. But spreadsheet formulas make it easy.

The formula will be placed in an empty cell that will calculate the total of the three cells. It can be the cell immediately below the numbers, or it can be a cell that’s located several columns away. The calculation can be completed anywhere on the worksheet, and will refer back to the cells that contain the values to be added together.

Let’s select a cell two columns over—cell C4. In it, type the following text. But don’t press Return/Enter yet:

=A1+A2+A3

This is a formula. All formulas and functions entered into a spreadsheet have to start with an equal sign (=). It looks backwards, but starting with an equal sign tells Excel or Sheets that you are entering a formula or function, as opposed to typing text or numbers.

A1, A2, and A3 are references to the cells that contain numerical values. References can be typed as lowercase (“a3”), but Sheets will convert them to uppercase.

As you type each reference into your formula, the cell in question will have a colored rectangle drawn around it. The color of the text being typed changes color to match it.

The colored outlines verify that you are typing the correct cell references. For instance, if you mistakenly typed B3 instead of A3, an empty cell would be highlighted, instantly letting you know that you had entered the wrong cell reference.

As you type, you may also notice that the Formula Bar shows exactly what you are typing. Further, a preview of the result is shown in cell C4 as you expand the formula:

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