Let’s calculate

Besides basic calculating operators like addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and division (/) Excel contains even a handful of functions that we can use to perform various mathematical operations. Also, there are functions for calculating the absolute value, returning the number sign, and some other functions that can be of importance, for example, to create conditions in conditional formatting, when we want to color each different order in different colors …

For division we’ll be using “slash” operator (/), but sometimes sometimes we need to know the remainder of two numbers after performing this operation.  For this purpose, the MOD function is used, whose syntax is:

MOD (<number>, <divisor>)

For example, if we want to calculate remainder of 5 and 3 should write a formula:

=MOD(3,2)

The result of mathematical operation is number 1. If, as the first argument, we specify name of the row of some cell, the result will always be 0 or 1, which can be used to set the conditions for conditional formatting. The formula would then have been, for example:

=MOD(ROW(A1),2)

To get a number raised to a given power we’ll use POWER function, whose syntax is:

POWER (<number>, <power>)

so if we write a formula:

=POWER(3,2)

result will be number 9.

To calculate square root of a given number should use SQRT function, whose syntax is:

SQRT (<number>)

For calculating absolute value of a number we use function ABS, and for returning a sign of a number function SIGN. Their syntaxes are:

ABS (<number>)

SIGN (<number>)

ABS fuction returns positive value of a given number, ad SIGN returns +1 (for positive numbers), -1 (for negative numbers), and 0 if an argument is 0.

To calculate pi number we’ll use function without arguments PI, whose syntax is:

PI()