Order of Operations in Excel

Microsoft Excel evaluate the formulas from Left to Right following a particular Operator precedence.

  • Parentheses ‘( )’ are evaluated at first,
  • then Exponentiation ‘^’,
  • Multiplication or Division ‘* or /’ (whichever comes first),
  • Addition or Subtraction ‘+ or -’ (again whichever comes first),
  • then Concatenation (joining strings) ‘&’
  • and finally Comparison.

For example, while evaluating the formula =4+5*2, Excel multiplies 5 by 2, then add that result to 4.

i.e. 5 * 2 which is 10 will be added to 4

=4+5*2

=14

But when Parentheses are added around 4+5, that segment is evaluated first and that result is multiplied by 2.

i.e. 4+5 which is 9 will be multiplied by 2.

=(4+5)*2

=18


Commonly Used Excel Formulas

Complete list of Excel Functions (Alphabetical Order)

Complete List of Excel Functions (Category wise)