To add and edit formulas, you use the Formula Editor. The Formula Editor has a text field that holds your formula. You can add cell references, operators, functions, or constants to a formula.
Note: In Numbers, you can also use the formula bar to work with formulas.
To add formulas using the Formula Editor, you open the Formula Editor and add the elements you want.
To build your formula, do any of the following:
To add an operator or a constant to the text field, place the insertion point and type.
Note: When your formula requires an operator and you haven’t added one, the + operator is inserted automatically. Select the + operator and type a different operator if needed. If you add cell references by selecting cells, commas are automatically added between references.
To add cell references, place the insertion point and select the cells you want to include.
To remove an element, select the element and tap or press Delete.
To accept changes, press Return or tap or click the Accept button (green checkmark) in the Formula Editor.
To close the Formula Editor and not accept any changes you made, tap or click the Cancel button (red x) in the Formula Editor.
In the Formula Editor or formula bar (Numbers), place the insertion point where you want the function added.
Open the Function Browser.
Select a function category.
To add a function, select it and tap or click Insert Function.
In the Formula Editor or formula bar (Numbers), replace each argument placeholder in the inserted function with a value.
Alternatively, you can type a function directly into the text field of the Formula Editor or formula bar (Numbers).
The concatenation operator (&) can be used in formulas to concatenate, or join, two or more strings or the contents of two or more cell references.
Place the insertion point in the Formula Editor or formula bar (Numbers) at the point where you want to insert the concatenation.
Add the first string or cell reference to be included in the concatenation.
Type &.
Add the second string or cell reference to be included in the concatenation.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as needed until all items to be concatenated are included.
When a formula in a table cell is incomplete, contains invalid cell references, or is otherwise incorrect, or when an import operation creates an error condition in a cell, an icon is displayed in the cell.
A blue triangle in the upper left of a cell indicates one or more warnings.
A red triangle in the middle of a cell means that a formula error occurred.
To review the error or warning, tap or click the icon.
A message window summarizes each error and warning condition associated with the cell.
If you no longer want to use a formula that’s associated with a cell, you can delete it.
Select the cell that contains the formula and tap or press the Delete key.
For specific instructions on how to accomplish tasks in the app you're using, see the help that accompanies the app. In the macOS apps, look under the Help menu. In the iOS apps, tap the More menu (three dots in the top-right corner), then tap Numbers Help. (If you don’t see Numbers Help, swipe up from the bottom of the controls). In the iCloud apps, click the Question Mark button in the top-right corner.