Determining number of calculations on a spreadsheet

[actuary32174]

Is there a way to determine the number of calculations contained in a spreadsheet? For example:

1. addition of two single numbers would result in one calculation.
2. additional of two double numbers would result in two calculations
3. multiplication of two single digits would result in one calculation
4. multiplication of two double digits would result in seven calculations.
I think that you get the picture.
I would like to know the number of calculations that an iteration method uses to determine the root of a polynomial equation to "n" decimal places.

Any help would be appreciated. I could do this by hand, but, it would be rather tedious and time consuming.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Rick

[shg]

Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing a pair of numbers takes one calculation regardless of the number of digits. Multiplication and division take more cycles, but it's still a single calculation performed in the ALU.

[actuary32174]

I suppose that I need to make my request clearer. If I had to replicate the steps on the spreadsheet by hand, how many steps would it take to get the same answer? When I multiply 2 digits by 2 digits, for example:

1 2
x 1 3
____
3 6
1 2
_____
1 5 6
1. multiply 3 x 2
2. multiply 3 x 1
3. multiply 1 x 2
4. multiply 1 x 1
5. Add 6 + 0
6. Add 3 + 2
7. Add 0 + 1

There are seven calculations. This is the type of count that I am looking for.

[shg]

That might be how you would do it by hand, but it's not how your computer works, and the result would not be an analog of computational complexity.

[actuary32174]

So basically, you are saying that there is no way possible to get the count that I am looking for directly from excel and need to do the count by hand?

[shg]

Whatever count your looking for, I reckon so.

[shg]

On my five-year-old laptop, adding two numbers between 0 and 9 takes 160ns. Dividing two 15-digit numbers takes 3% (that's 3%, not 3 times) longer.