Using basic math functions is something you’ll be doing a lot of if you’re going to be using Calc to manage your figures and spreadsheets. If you don’t know how to use them properly, you’ll probably run into some big problems in a very short amount of time so in this article, we’re going to be explaining how you can use basic math in Calc to ensure that when you want the software to make basic calculations for you, you’ll never have any issues and will be able to do so straight away.
To start with, you need to make sure you have it installed onto your computer as you would expect. At the moment, there is no way to install Calc onto your computer without having the rest of the suite too. You also need to remember that whenever you’re entering a formula or going to be performing a calculation, you must always start the cell with “=”. This allows Open Office to realise that it needs to perform calculations based on what you enter next.
Addition – You could use Calc to add either two cells, or a cell to a number. It’s easy to do either way, just start the cell with “=” and then enter a cell/number followed by a “+” and then another cell/number. It seems very simple to do and really is that straightforward. For example, if you wanted to add cell A5 and cell C7, you’d write “=A5+C7″ into a cell. Once you press enter, the result will be calculated and will continue to automatically calculate as you change the data.
Subtraction – This is very similar to the one above, exactly as you’d expect it to be. You simply do the same, but changing the “+” to a “-” which will then subtract it rather than adding. This application copes well with negative numbers so it will display just fine if this happens as a result of your calculations. In future articles, we’ll talk about more advanced features relating to sanity checking your data to make sure it’s correct.
Multiplication – In most other computer software (including this one), the multiplication sign used is a “*”. You need to remember this because using other alternatives such as “x” simply won’t work and could leave you confused if you aren’t aware about what you’re doing. You simply enter the cells & numbers with the “*” in between and the office suite should have no problems with the data you enter.
Division – If you want to divide two numbers or cells, this is also very easy when using this program. In the office suite, the division symbol used is a “/” and is used in exactly the same format as the others. However, you do need to be careful with this one as dividing by 0 could really cause your data to mess up, so you need to ensure that the cell/number you’re dividing by is never 0 to prevent this from happening.
In conclusion, you should now have found that doing basic math in the suite is actually incredibly easy, there’s no advanced knowledge required. You really do need to remember all of the things we’ve mentioned in this article though to make sure you don’t make any mistakes which could leave you very confused and could make your data inaccurate. Overall, this is one of the most basic things you can do with Calc and now that you’re aware about it, you should be able to read more guides on our website and figure out how to use the more advanced functions in Open Office.