Multiply in Excel
Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program, and knowing some basic formulas can make manipulating your data much more manageable. One of the most useful functions is the multiplication function. This guide will walk you through the several different ways to multiply values in Excel.
Contents
Steps
Multiplying Two or More Numbers in a Cell
- Create your formula. All formulas in Excel start with the = symbol. After the = sign, enter the numbers your want to multiply, separated by the * sign. After entering the numbers, press the Enter key and the answer will replace your formula in the cell. For example:
- =2*12
- The cell you entered the formula in should display 24.
- If you enter an "x" instead of an "*" Excel will attempt to correct it for you.
- Adjust your formula. Even though the result is displayed in the cell, the formula remains in the formula bar above the worksheet. You can adjust the numbers however you’d like and the new result will be displayed in the cell.
- Multiply multiple numbers. You can add multiple numbers to the formula. Simply add the numbers with the appropriate symbols. For example:
- =2*12*.25
- The cell you entered the formula in should display 6.
Multiply Different Cells
- Input your data. Make sure that you have the correct data in the correct cells. The formulas will use whatever number is in the cells that are referenced. Here's a sample layout:
- Multiply two different cells. This is the most basic of the cell multiplication formulas. Click on the cell that you want the result displayed in. For our example, we'll multiply the first cell by the fourth. The formula would look like:
- =A1*A4
- The cell that you enter the formula in should display 35.
- The result will update automatically if you change any of the numbers in the reference cells. For example, if A1 was changed to 20, the result frame would change to 140.
- Multiply a range of cells. You can multiply any connected range of cells by using the PRODUCT formula. Click on the cell that you want the result displayed in. Start the PRODUCT formula by typing:
- =PRODUCT(
- Select your range. After starting the formula, you can either select the range by dragging a box with your mouse, or by entering it manually. Enter the starting cell and the ending cell, separated by a ":". For our example:
- =PRODUCT(A1:A4)
- The cell that you entered the formula in should display 2100.
- Multiply a range of numbers together by another number. You can adjust the PRODUCT formula to multiply the entire range, and then multiply that figure by another number. To do this, enter the range formula as above, and add the other number separated by a ",". For our example:
- =PRODUCT(A1:A4,2)
- This will take the original output, and multiply it by 2. The cell that you entered the formula in should display 4200.
Multiply a Range of Numbers by a Number
- Enter the number you want to multiply by. Type the number you want to multiply by into a blank cell. Right-click on it and select Copy.
- Select your number range. Place each number in a separate cell. Once you have entered all of your numbers, select the cells. If the cells are not located next to each other, you can hold Ctrl and click on each individual cell that you want to select.
- Multiply by the copied number. Once the cells are selected, right-click on any of the highlighted cells and click Paste Special… This will open the Paste Special menu. In the Operation section, click the Multiply option. Press the OK button.
- All of the cells that were highlighted will be changed to the result of the multiplication operation. Note that the formula will not be in the formula bar; this operation changes the numbers directly.
Tips
- When using the PRODUCT formula to calculate the product of a range, you can select more than just one column or row. For example, your range could be =PRODUCT(A1:D8). This will multiply all of the values of the cells in the rectangle defined by the range (A1-A8, B1-B8, C1-C8, D1-D8).
