Let's say you want to find out how many inventory items are not profitable (total inventory – profitable items) or how many employees are approaching retirement age (total employees – employees under 55). There are several ways to subtract numbers.
What do you want to do?
Subtract numbers in a cell
Subtract numbers in a range
Subtract numbers in a cell
To do this task, use the - (minus sign) arithmetic operator.
For example, if you type the following formula in a cell:
10-5
The cell displays the following result:
5
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Subtract numbers in a range
To do this task, use the SUM function. Adding a negative number is the same as subtracting.
Example
The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.
How to copy an example
- Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
- Select the example in the Help topic.
Note Do not select the row or column headers.
Selecting an example from Help
- Press CTRL+C.
- In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
- To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.
|
|
| A |
| Data |
| 15,000 |
| 9,000 |
| -8,000 |
| Formula |
Description (Result) |
| =A2-A3 |
Subtracts 9,000 from 15,000 (6,000) |
| =SUM(A2:A4) |
Adds all numbers in the list, including negative numbers (16,000) |
|
Function details
SUM
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