How to Write Formulas For Excel 2003

1. Launch Excel 2003 and open the worksheet that you would like to add a formula to. Click to highlight (put a black box around) the cell that you would like to display the result of your formula in when it is complete, and press the equal sign (=) key. You will notice that the equal sign appears both in the cell that you have clicked and in the formula ('fx') bar at the top of the screen.
2. Click another cell to reference it in your formula, type a number to enter a constant value, and type math signs on the keyboard to manipulate those values. For example, if you wanted the cell that you clicked to begin the formula to display what the total would be if you subtracted 20 from the value displayed in cell A2, you would first click cell A2. The cell will now have a moving dotted line going around it. After clicking the cell, type the minus sign (-) then type the value that you want to subtract (20).
3. Press the 'Enter' key when your formula is complete. The cell that you clicked to begin the formula will automatically change to display the result of the formula that you typed. If you referenced another cell when typing the formula (such as in the example), the result of your formula will change automatically if the value in the referenced cell ever changes.
4. Click the original cell again if you need to make changes to your formula. Note that the formula bar at the top of the screen shows the full formula that you entered; after clicking the cell, click in the formula bar, back over any mistakes that you have made using the 'Backspace' key, and enter the desired values. Press 'Enter' to recalculate the formula when you are done. Alternatively, you can click the cell that you want to change, press the 'Delete' key, and start the formula over.