1.3 Your first formulas
Checked against Microsoft's Excel for Windows keyboard references, August 2026
What you'll be able to do
Add up a column, average it and count it. Copy a formula and know how its references will move. Read any formula you wrote out loud and understand it.
Before you start
Download the formula drills workbook. It holds thirty short tasks. Its answer column checks itself and turns green when your formula is right.
The work
- Same either way: every formula starts with
=. Type=2+3in any empty cell and press Enter. The cell shows the result, and the formula bar shows what you typed. The cell now works out a value instead of holding one. - Same either way: to add up a column, type the range by name:
=SUM(B2:B10), then Enter. A range is a block of cells, named by its first and last cell. Typing it works the same with a mouse, a keyboard or a screen reader, because you never need to point at anything. - Same either way: go to the empty cell under a column of numbers and press AltEqual sign. Excel puts in the SUM formula with its best guess at the range. Press Enter to accept the guess, or Esc to refuse it. Always read the guessed range before you accept it.
- Same either way: AVERAGE, COUNT, COUNTA, MIN and MAX all work like SUM:
=AVERAGE(B2:B10). COUNT counts the cells holding numbers. COUNTA counts the cells holding anything at all. The difference matters the first time a column mixes numbers and words. - Same either way: to copy a formula down its column, select it together with the empty cells below using CtrlShiftDown Arrow, then press CtrlD. Open one of the copies with F2. The row numbers in its references moved with it. That movement is what happens by default, and most of the time it is what you want.
- Same either way: sometimes one reference must never move, such as a tax rate in
E1. Edit the formula with F2, put the insertion point on that reference, and press F4.E1becomes$E$1, which is anchored. Pressing F4 again steps through the other combinations. - Same either way: press CtrlGrave accent (the key above Tab) to show every formula on the sheet at once. Press it again to go back to the values. It is the fastest way to see what a sheet actually does.
- Same either way: when you cannot remember a function's name, press ShiftF3. The Insert Function dialog searches by what you want to do.
- Same either way: before you trust any formula, say it in words.
=SUM(B2:B10)is "add rows 2 to 10 of column B". A formula you cannot say out loud is one you do not understand yet.
Try it
Work through the drills workbook from the top. Each task says what to work out, and the answer column turns green when your formula is right. Do the last five with AltEqual sign wherever a sum is asked for, and check its guessed range every time.
Check yourself
What does every formula start with?
The equals sign, =. Without it, Excel stores your typing as text.
Which key sequence inserts a SUM over the numbers above, and what must you check?
AltEqual sign — check the range it guessed before pressing Enter.
A column has 20 rows: 18 numbers and 2 notes in words. What do COUNT and COUNTA return?
COUNT returns 18, because it counts numbers. COUNTA returns 20, because it counts every cell that is not empty.
What does $E$1 mean in a formula, and which key writes it?
The reference is anchored, so copying the formula never moves it. F4 writes it, pressed while the insertion point is on the reference.
Go deeper
We haven't checked most of these for screen reader use yet.