Forum Discussion
Calculator
I'm trying to find how I can use each cell as a calculator essentially. I'm making a financial spreadsheet and instead of using a calculator to add the totals from a website and then putting that new...
Hellokatiet1570,
Excel cannot make a single cell keep adding new numbers you type into it. A cell can only hold a value or a formula, not both.
The correct approach is to enter each number in separate cells and use a SUM formula.
Example:
A1: 10
A2: 20
A3: 30
B1: =SUM(A:A)
If you want a running total in one cell, you can enable iterative calculation and use:
A1: =A1+B1
Then enter new numbers in B1 and A1 will accumulate the total, but this method is not recommended for financial spreadsheets.
Best practice is to store values in rows or columns and use SUM.