Buzz
Today, Mytour will guide you on how to perform subtraction in Excel.
Steps
Subtracting values from multiple cells
Open Excel. The app has a green icon with a white "X".
- If you'd like to use an existing Excel file, double-click on the document you need to work on.
Click on Blank workbook (for Windows) or Excel Workbook (for Mac) at the top left of the "Template" window (Page layout) to create a new spreadsheet.
Enter data if needed. To begin, click on a cell, type the number, and then press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return.
Click on an empty cell to select it.
Type "=" into the cell (without the quotation marks). You always need to enter an equals sign before entering any formula in Excel.
Enter the name of the cell. This is the name of the cell containing the data you want to subtract from the value in one (or more) other cell(s).
- For example, type "C1" to select the number in cell C1.
Type - into the cell. You will see the minus sign appear next to the number you entered.
Enter the name of another cell. This cell will provide the value used for subtraction.
- You can repeat this process with multiple cells (e.g., "C1-A1-B2").
Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. The formula in the cell will be calculated and replaced with the result.
- You can click on the cell to view the original formula in the text bar just above the column letters.
Subtract within a single cell
Open Excel. The application has a green color with a white "X".
Click on Blank workbook (for regular PCs) or Excel Workbook (for Macbook) located at the top left of the "Template" window to create a new spreadsheet.
Click on any cell. The specific cell you choose doesn't matter unless you're planning to input data in this workbook.
Type "=" (without the quotation marks) into the cell. You must always begin with an equal sign before entering any formulas in Excel.
Enter the number you wish to subtract (the minuend). This number will appear in the selected cell, right next to the equal sign.
- For example, to calculate a budget, enter your monthly income in this cell.
Type - into the cell. The minus sign will appear following the number you've entered.
- If you need to subtract multiple numbers (e.g., X-Y-Z), repeat this step after each number, except the final one.
Enter the subtraction amount.
- If you're calculating a budget, input the amount you've already spent in this cell.
Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. The formula in the cell will be calculated and replaced by the result.
- You can click on the cell to view the original formula in the text bar just above the column letters.
Subtract within a column range
Open Excel. The application is green with a white "X".
- If you want to use an existing Excel file, double-click on the Excel document that you wish to calculate with.
Click on Blank workbook (for regular PCs) or Excel Workbook (for Macbook) at the top left of the "Template" window to create a new spreadsheet.
Click on an empty cell to select it.
Enter the main number. Starting from the cell with this number, the rest of the column will be selected.
- For example, you can input your annual salary here.
Enter a subtraction value in the cell below. Type the negative value of the number you wish to subtract (for instance, to subtract 300, enter "-300").
- Input one subtraction per cell.
- Ensure that every number you enter aligns with the main number in the same column.
- For salary calculations, make sure to prefix each expense with a "-" in each cell.
Click on an empty cell. This cell does not need to be in the same column as the main number.
Type the equal sign "=" (without quotation marks) to set up a formula for this cell.
Type SUM into the cell. The "SUM" function will add the items together.
- Excel doesn’t have an official "subtract" function by column, which is why we need to input negative numbers as shown above.
Enter (cell_name:cell_name) after SUM. This will sum all the cells in the column from the first cell’s value to the last.
- For example, if cell K1 contains the main value and the last data cell in the column is K10, enter "(K1:K10)".
Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. The formula will be calculated and the final result will appear in the selected cell.
Tip
- You can also use Excel to add multiple numbers together.
Warning
- If you don't type the = sign before entering a formula, the calculation will not take place.
