Every formula entered in an MS Excel cell must begin with which of the following characters?
- A.The hash sign
- B.The equals sign
- C.The asterisk
- D.The colon
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the equals sign. Excel treats whatever follows an equals sign as something to be calculated, so =A1+B1 adds the two cells and =SUM(A1:A10) totals a range. Without that sign the same text is stored as plain text and no calculation happens, which is why a formula that shows itself in the cell instead of a result has usually lost its equals sign.
Option A, the hash sign, begins an error value such as #DIV/0! or #NAME? and is written by Excel, never by the user. Option C, the asterisk, is the multiplication operator used inside a formula, as in =A1*B1, and a formula may also be started with a plus or a minus sign in Excel for the convenience of old Lotus users, but never with an asterisk. Option D, the colon, is the range operator that joins the first and last cells of a block, as in A1:A10. Each of these three has a real job in Excel, just not the job of starting a formula.
Read the full article: MS Excel: Formulas, Functions and Shortcuts
Practice Questions
View allIn MS - Excel, what is the shortcut key you can press to Select the entire row?
- A.Ctrl + Shift + Space
- B.Ctrl + Home
- C.Ctrl + Space
- D.Shift + Space
Show answer
Pressing Shift together with the spacebar selects the whole row that holds the active cell, from column A right across to the last column of the grid.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following displays both the name of the application and the name of the spreadsheet in MS-Excel?
- A.Title bar
- B.Tool bar
- C.Task bar
- D.Menu bar
Show answer
The title bar is the strip along the very top of the Excel window, and it carries the name of the open workbook followed by the name of the program, for example Book1 - Excel.
Read the full explanation →The 'LEN' function in MS-Excel belongs to which of the following categories?
- A.Financial
- B.Logical
- C.Text
- D.Math & Trig
Show answer
LEN returns the number of characters in an entry, counting letters, digits, punctuation and spaces alike, so =LEN("Excel") gives 5.
Read the full explanation →Which out of the following is used as an electronic spread sheet?
- A.Microsoft Word
- B.Microsoft Power point
- C.Microsoft Excel
- D.Microsoft Access
Show answer
An electronic spreadsheet stores data in a grid of rows and columns and recalculates its formulas whenever a value changes, and Excel is the spreadsheet program of the Microsoft Office suite.
Read the full explanation →Which function key displays the Print Preview window in Microsoft Office?
- A.Alt + Ctrl + F2
- B.Alt + F2
- C.Shift + F2
- D.Ctrl + F2
Show answer
Ctrl together with F2 opens the print area of the Backstage view in Excel, Word and PowerPoint, where the page is shown exactly as it will be printed and the printer, copies, orientation and margins can be set.
Read the full explanation →