Putting Formulas to use in a Spreadsheet

In the previous spreadsheet pages we have reviewed cell formatting and basic formulas, here I will review creating a real-world scenario and show how to use formaulas with constants and variables.

In this example I will be using OpenOffice Calc, however there is little to no difference in the general functionality between this and Microsoft Excel.

Material covered previously:

Basic Excel, Autosum and Averages

Basic Excel Formulas

The scenario is; I am a Sales Representative for company X and I use my personal vehicle for work and am re-imbursed at 55 cents per mile. I have to pay all expenses and I'm curious how the financials actually break down. I'm not going to present a totally complete example, the emphasis here being on the formulas and theory, not every actual expense.

Here you can see I travelled 1600 miles in January, and I was issued an expense check for $880 dollars (1600 x .55). The formula in cell C3 represents our answer.

Because we are using a spreadsheet we could change .55 or 1600 and the answer in C3 would automatically adjust.

Our Tire Expense is calculated by using the 1600 mile value from cell C2 times a per mile constant of .02/mile. The Product of cells C2 and B9.

In my mileage spreadsheet Video I review what we have covered here.