excel formula for subtracting one column from another

Press the Enter key to complete your formula.Īnd you will have a result similar to this: Its reference will be added to the formula automatically (A2).Ĭlick on the cell containing a subtrahend (a number to be subtracted) to add its reference to the formula (B2). In the cell where you want to output the difference, type the equals sign (=) to begin your formula.Ĭlick on the cell containing a minuend (a number from which another number is to be subtracted).

You do not necessarily have to type cell references manually, you can quickly add them to the formula by selecting the corresponding cells.

To subtract one cell from another, you also use the minus formula but supply cell references instead of actual numbers:įor example, to subtract the number in B2 from the number in A2, use this formula: The screenshot below shows a few more formulas to subtract numbers in Excel: To indicate which part of the formula should be calculated first, use parentheses. Like in math, you can perform more than one arithmetic operation within a single formula.įor example, to subtract a few numbers from 100, type all those numbers separated by a minus sign: Type the first number followed by the minus sign followed by the second number.Ĭomplete the formula by pressing the Enter key. In a cell where you want the result to appear, type the equality sign ( =). To enter the formula in your worksheet, do the following steps: The basic Excel subtraction formula is as simple as this:įor example, to subtract 10 from 100, write the below equation and get 90 as the result: Here To perform a simple subtraction operation, you use the minus sign (-). Let's understand how to use the function using an example. Let's learn each of the above mentioned methods taking one by one to understand how subtraction works in excel.Īll of these might be confusing to understand. Now, let's take a look at how you can do all this.

You can even subtract matrices, text strings and lists.

Subtraction formula in Excel (minus formula) What kind of things can you subtract in your worksheets? Just any things which excel understands as numbers: such as numbers, percentages, days, months, hours, minutes and seconds. Subtraction is one of the four basic arithmetic operations, and every primary school pupil knows that to subtract one number from another you use the minus sign. In this article, we will learn how to apply Subtraction in Excel.

Excel formula for subtracting one column from another