3 Ways to Subtract in Excel

Table of contents:

3 Ways to Subtract in Excel
3 Ways to Subtract in Excel

Video: 3 Ways to Subtract in Excel

Video: 3 Ways to Subtract in Excel
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This article will teach you how to perform a subtraction on one or more Excel cells.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Subtracting Cell Values

Subtract in Excel Step 1
Subtract in Excel Step 1

Step 1. Open Excel

It has a green icon with an "X" inside.

If you want to use an existing document, double click on it

Subtract in Excel Step 2
Subtract in Excel Step 2

Step 2. Click Blank Workbook (Windows) or Excel Workbook (Mac)

This option is on the upper left side of the "Template" window.

Subtract in Excel Step 3
Subtract in Excel Step 3

Step 3. Enter your details if necessary

To do this, click on a cell, type in a number, and press the ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return key.

Subtract in Excel Step 4
Subtract in Excel Step 4

Step 4. Click on a blank cell

It will be selected.

Subtract in Excel Step 5
Subtract in Excel Step 5

Step 5. Type "=" inside the cell

It is not necessary to use the quotes. In Excel, you must type the equal sign before entering a formula.

Subtract in Excel Step 6
Subtract in Excel Step 6

Step 6. Enter the cell name

You must type the cell name with the value you want to subtract from the value of another cell.

For example, type "C1" to select cell number C1.

Subtract in Excel Step 7
Subtract in Excel Step 7

Step 7. Type - into the cell

This sign will appear right after the number entered.

Subtract in Excel Step 8
Subtract in Excel Step 8

Step 8. Enter the name of the other cell

You must type the name of the cell whose value you want to subtract from the first cell.

It is possible to repeat this process with multiple cells, such as "C1-A1-B2"

Subtract in Excel Step 9
Subtract in Excel Step 9

Step 9. Press the ↵ Enter key or ⏎ Return.

Doing so will calculate the formula typed in the cell and replace it with the result value.

You can click on it to view the original formula in the text bar directly above the line of letters

Method 2 of 3: Subtracting Within a Cell

Subtract in Excel Step 10
Subtract in Excel Step 10

Step 1. Open Excel

It has a green icon with an "X" inside.

Subtract in Excel Step 11
Subtract in Excel Step 11

Step 2. Click Blank Workbook (Windows) or Excel Workbook (Mac)

This option is on the upper left side of the "Template" window.

Subtract in Excel Step 12
Subtract in Excel Step 12

Step 3. Click on a cell

Unless you intend to create data using this workbook, the cell selected is not important.

Subtract in Excel Step 13
Subtract in Excel Step 13

Step 4. Type "=" inside the cell

It is not necessary to use the quotes. Doing so will set up the formula in the cell.

Subtract in Excel Step 14
Subtract in Excel Step 14

Step 5. Enter a number you want to subtract from

It will appear in the selected cell to the right of the "=" sign.

For a budget, for example, you can enter your salary in this cell

Subtract in Excel Step 15
Subtract in Excel Step 15

Step 6. Type - into the cell

This sign will appear right after the number entered.

If you decide to subtract multiple numbers (such as X-Y-Z), repeat this Step after each subsequent number, excluding the last one

Subtract in Excel Step 16
Subtract in Excel Step 16

Step 7. Enter the number you want to subtract from the first number

If you are calculating a budget, you can enter an expense in this cell

Subtract in Excel Step 17
Subtract in Excel Step 17

Step 8. Press the ↵ Enter key or ⏎ Return.

Doing so will calculate the formula typed in the cell and replace it with the result value.

You can click on it to view the original formula in the text bar directly above the line of letters

Method 3 of 3: Subtracting a Column

Subtract in Excel Step 18
Subtract in Excel Step 18

Step 1. Open Excel

It has a green icon with an "X" inside.

If you want to use an existing document, double click on it

Subtract in Excel Step 19
Subtract in Excel Step 19

Step 2. Click Blank Workbook (Windows) or Excel Workbook (Mac)

This option is on the upper left side of the "Template" window.

Subtract in Excel Step 20
Subtract in Excel Step 20

Step 3. Click on a blank cell

The cell will be selected.

Subtract in Excel Step 21
Subtract in Excel Step 21

Step 4. Enter the main number

This must be the number from which the rest of the column will be selected.

For example, you can enter your annual earnings

Subtract in Excel Step 22
Subtract in Excel Step 22

Step 5. Enter any subtraction in the cells below

To do this, enter a negative version of the number you want to subtract (for example, if you want to subtract 300, enter -300),

  • Enter one subtraction per cell.
  • Each number entered must be in the same column as the main number.
  • For the salary example, you can type "-" followed by an expense for each box.
Subtract in Excel Step 23
Subtract in Excel Step 23

Step 6. Click on a blank cell

This time, the cell does not need to be in the same column as the main number.

Subtract in Excel Step 24
Subtract in Excel Step 24

Step 7. Type "=" inside the cell

It is not necessary to use the quotes. Doing so will set up the formula in the cell.

Subtract in Excel Step 25
Subtract in Excel Step 25

Step 8. Type SUM into the cell

The "SUM" command serves to add items.

There is no official subtraction command, which is why you type numbers in negative form

Subtract in Excel Step 26
Subtract in Excel Step 26

Step 9. Type (CellName:CellName) after SUM

This command sums the cells in a column from the value of the first cell to the value of the last one.

For example, if the cell K1 is the main number, and the last cell in the column with the data is the K10, type "(K1:K10)".

Subtract in Excel Step 27
Subtract in Excel Step 27

Step 10. Press the ↵ Enter key or ⏎ Return.

Doing so will run the formula in the selected cell, replacing it with the final total value.

Tips

You can also use Excel to add numbers

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