MS Excel is designed to store data and perform calculations on them. One commonly used action is to multiply numbers. It is used to calculate statistics, find totals, and in many other cases. In this article, we will introduce how to multiply in Excel.
Multiplication of numbers
The easiest option is to find the product of predefined numbers. To perform this operation, the multiplication command is used, which has the form of an asterisk - “*”. In order for Excel to perform an arithmetic operation, and not just write the information in the cell as text, an equal sign is written before the numbers are produced - "=".
The snapshot shows how to multiply two arbitrary numbers 12 and 28 in Excel . Note that cell C5 simply contains the text 12 * 28, which is displayed. In cell C4, we put the “=” sign before the operation, and the program calculated the product. Thus, multiplication of two or more numbers, both integer and fractional, is performed.
Cell multiplication
Multiply the numbers in the program is not so often. Much more common are tasks when it is necessary to calculate the product of the contents of the cells or to multiply the data in the cell by a number. Let's see how in Excel to multiply a number by a field value.
The young man pays for English courses. The monthly cost of training is 6800 rubles. We want to know how much it costs him to study for six months. We write the cost of classes per month in the first cell, and in the next field we get the result of multiplying it by the number 6.
For use in a formula, values from a cell indicate a link to it. In the example, the number is in the field A2, and write in the operation.
Suppose now that when paying for courses in advance for a certain period, the amount is less than with monthly payments. We’ll calculate how much tuition will cost per year with different payment methods. The cost of courses per month is 8200 rubles. If you pay for 3 months at once, the cost will be 23,100 rubles, so you will have to pay 4 times a year. Accordingly, if you transfer money for training twice a year, each time the amount will be 42,300 rubles, and a one-time fee for the year ahead will be 73800 rubles.
We write this information in the table and calculate the amounts for each type of payment. Now the formula will contain links to two cells, in one of which the amount of payment for the period is indicated, and in the other - the number of such periods in the year. In order not to prescribe a formula for each of the lines, format the information as a table, then in the calculation column when you enter only the first formula, the program will put the rest automatically.
Using Functions
Another option, how to multiply numbers or values in cells in Excel, is to use the PRODUCT function. If you need to multiply a large amount of data or entire ranges of cells, this function works more efficiently than an arithmetic operation. Her call is written like this:
PRODUCTION (number1; [number2]; ...),
where the factors can be both values and ranges of fields.
The PRODUCT function (A1: A6) will multiply all the values in cells A1 through A6, and the result will be the same as if we wrote the formula A1 * A2 * A3 * A4 * A5 * A6.
It should be remembered that a function performs an action only on numbers. If there are text values or empty cells in the specified range, the formula will ignore them.
Special insert
Another way to multiply in Excel 2007 and later is to paste the copied cells in a special way. The travel company has a 9% mark-up on hotel prices. To calculate the cost of selling rooms, we use the specified method.
We copy the purchase prices into the next column, where we will calculate the cost with a mark-up. The margin percent itself - 1.09 will be added to an arbitrary cell. Now copy the cell with the percentage mark-up, select the range in which you want to get the work, and select the menu item "Paste Special". It is in the list of “Paste” commands of the “Clipboard” toolbar of the “Home” tab.
In the settings window, select "multiply" and click "OK."
We hope the article will help you in the future to easily perform data multiplication in MS Excel and thereby make your work more efficient.