How to use addition in a formula

To add things in Excel, use the “+” sign.

Let’s take a look.

The first two examples don’t require any cell references and can be input directly.

We’ll simply throw in this in directly as = C9 + D6

Next we have H11 plus F7.

This time, we’ll point and click to set the cell references.

Notice we get a negative value, since the value in H11 is -10.

Finally, we need to add together all cell references.

We’ll use our mouse to indicate the references.

We can check that we entered the references correctly by double-clicking, or by clicking into the formula bar.

You could see a VALUE error if any of the cells contain text.

Empty or blank cells will not cause an error.

Excel will treat blank cells as “0.”