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Here's a worked example showing how different the calculation result could be if no brackets are included in an Excel formula. You might find it useful to read about BODMAS rules first.
We need to use a fairly long, complex calculation in the yellow result cells in column I.
The results in column I have a complex calculation as shown below:
A mathematician might write the equation for the results like this.
Let's assume that the steps to calculate the results using the formula above are as follows:
You might write the steps out like this to help you with adding brackets to the Excel formula.
The worked example below shows 2 possible ways to create the formula and the very different results from each method:
The formulae on row 2 and row 3 contain the same calculations - the brackets change the order of these calculations
When you have a complex Excel formula with multiple levels of brackets inside each other, Excel starts with the inner most level everywhere and holds the results to each in a memory location. Then Excel moves to the next outer level and calculates everything at that level. Excel keeps repeating this until all calculations inside brackets are complete and then continues working down the BODMAS order.
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