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Order of operations in a formula

MySpreadsheet calculates formulas based on the following order of operations:

  • Operations enclosed in parentheses are performed first:
    • The order of operations depends on their priority.
    • Operations in the nested parentheses are performed first.
tip

If a formula contains the parentheses that are not essential in the calculation, they will be deleted automatically. For example, the formula =SUM(1+(2*5)+1) will be automatically transformed into =SUM(1+2*5+1).

  • Operations outside the parentheses are performed according to their precedence.
  • Operations with the same precedence are performed from left to right, with the exception of the exponentiation (^), which is performed from right to left. Example: = 2^4^2 = 2^16 = 65,536.

If you combine several operators in a single formula, MySpreadsheet performs the operations in the order shown in the following table below.

PriorityOperator symbolOperator description
1:Range
2 Space
3%Percentage
4+ -  Unary plus Unary minus Unary space
5^Exponentiation
6* /Multiplication Division
7+ -Addition Subtraction
8&Combining two text strings into one
9  = > < >= <= <>Comparison: Equal to Greater than Less than Greater than or equal to Less than or equal to Not equal to