Operator Precedence
Excel follows mathematical conventions when determining the order of operations used in a calculation. That order is as follows:
| Symbol | Operator | Description | Precedence |
|---|---|---|---|
| () | Parentheses | Change the order of evaluation | 1 |
| : , | Colon Space Comma | Reference operators | 2 |
| - | Negation | Negation | 3 |
| % | Percentage | Percent | 4 |
| ^ | Exponentiation | Exponentiation | 5 |
| */ | Multiplication Division | Multiplication and division | 6 |
| +- | Addition Subtraction | Addition and subtraction | 7 |
| & | Concatenation | Connects two strings of text | 8 |
| = < > <= >= <> | Comparison | Comparison | 9 |
Examples
| Formula | Result | Description |
|---|---|---|
| =4+5*6 | 34 | Multiplication then addition |
| =(4+5)*6 | 54 | Addition in parentheses then multiplication |
| =4+5/2*6 | 19 | Division then multiplication then addition |
| =(4+5)/(2*6) | 0.75 | Multiplication then addition then division |
| =(4+5)/2*6 | 27 | Addition then division then multiplication |
| =A10<A11 | FALSE | Returns TRUE if the value in cell A1 is less than the value in cell A2. Otherwise, it returns FALSE. |
| ="Microsoft"&" Excel" | Microsoft Excel | Joins the two text strings to produce Microsoft Excel. |
If two operations on the same level, such as multiplication and division, occur outside parentheses, Excel performs them in left-to-right order. E.g., 9*5/3=15.
You can change the order of operations by using parentheses. E.g., (3+4)*5=35, where 3+4=7, and 7*5=35.
Operator precedence in Excel is not always the same as mathematical precedence. E.g., =-5^2, which Excel evaluates as (-5)^2, which is 25. However, mathematically, you’d expect -(5^2), which is -25.
| Formula | Result |
|---|---|
| =-5^2 | 25 |
| =(-5)^2 | 25 |
| =-(5^2) | -25 |
| =-5%^2 | 0.0025 |