Precedence

As anyone who works with our favorite spreadsheet program for any length of time knows, it is very apparent that Excel and Math go hand-in-hand. That being the case, this week we will take a look at how Excel controls the order of Precedence.

For Arithmetic, the order of Precedence for symbols is as follows:

o   Negative = -

o   Percent = %

o   Exponential = ^

o   Multiplication = *

o   Division = /

o   Addition = +

o   Subtraction = -

For Comparing data, the order of Precedence is as follows:

o   Less than = <

o   Greater than = >

o   Less than or equal to = <=

o   Greater than or equal to = >=

o   Does not equal = <>

You will note that the foregoing differs at times from traditional math. As in nearly all of mathematics, however, you can control the order of precedence by using parentheses.

Math. Every Excel Guru’s favorite subject in school!