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Calculating long math equations in Excel

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    Calculating long math equations in Excel

    I’m trying to get a cost per service result by stringing together a complicated math formula.

    The math equation I’m trying to use, which I need a way to calculate correctly in Excel is, (1 x 2) + (3 x 4) + (1/5 x 6) / 8

    See attached spreadsheet. Where you see a number in the equation above, that number correlates to the value in the second cell under column B.

    As you can see, if I just string it altogether in Excel as one formula, it gives me a result of 32,966.29.

    But I also broke out the equation into separate strings to get the result I should be getting – 2.69

    How can I get Excel to calculate that entire equation together so that it gives me the 2.69 without having to break it down in separate cells?
    Attached Files Attached Files

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    Forum Guru TMS's Avatar
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    Re: Calculating long math equations in Excel

    Close ...

    Formula: copy to clipboard
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    Regards, TMS
    Trevor Shuttleworth - Retired Excel/VBA Consultant

    I dream of a better world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned

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    Re: Calculating long math equations in Excel

    As TMS noted, you missed a pair of parantheses. IMO, this is sometimes the hardest part of putting "long math equations" into Excel (or any other programming language). As an extensioin of TMS's solution, I would suggest that one of the best skills you can develop for using long math equations in a single cell is learning how to account for parentheses, match up parentheses, and how to debug when a parenthesis is misplaced or just plain missing.
    Quote Originally Posted by shg
    Mathematics is the native language of the natural world. Just trying to become literate.

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    Re: Calculating long math equations in Excel

    Thanks for the rep



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