Arithmetic operators in Google Sheets - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

📊 Formula Result

intermediate

Calculate the result of a formula with mixed operators

What is the result of the formula =5 + 3 * 2 - 4 / 2 in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets

=5 + 3 * 2 - 4 / 2

A 8

B 9

C 11

D 10

💡 Hint

Remember that multiplication and division happen before addition and subtraction.

Multiplication and division are done first: 3*2=6 and 4/2=2. Then addition and subtraction: 5+6=11, 11-2=9.

❓ Function Choice

intermediate

Choose the correct formula to calculate the average of sums

You have numbers in cells A1=4, A2=6, B1=8, B2=2. Which formula correctly calculates the average of the sums of each row?

A =(A1+B1 + A2+B2)/2

B =AVERAGE(A1:B2)

C =SUM(A1:B2)/2

D =AVERAGE(A1+B1, A2+B2)

💡 Hint

You want the average of the sums of each row, not the average of all cells.

Option D sums each row separately and then averages those sums: (4+8) and (6+2), average is (12+8)/2=10.

📊 Formula Result

advanced

Evaluate a formula with parentheses and exponentiation

What is the result of the formula = (2 + 3)^2 / 5 in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets

=(2 + 3)^2 / 5

A 5

B 25

C 10

D 1

💡 Hint

Calculate inside parentheses first, then exponentiation, then division.

Inside parentheses: 2+3=5. Then exponentiation: 5^2=25. Then division: 25/5=5.

🎯 Scenario

advanced

Fix the formula to correctly calculate total cost with tax

You want to calculate the total cost including 8% tax for an item price in cell A1. Which formula correctly calculates this?

A =A1 * 1.08

B =A1 + 8%

C =A1 + A1 * 8

D =A1 * 0.08

💡 Hint

Tax is 8%, so multiply price by 1 plus tax rate as decimal.

Option A multiplies the price by 1.08 (100% + 8%) to get total cost including tax.

❓ data_analysis

expert

Determine the number of items greater than a threshold using arithmetic operators

Given the values in cells A1:A5 as 3, 7, 2, 9, 5, which formula returns the count of numbers greater than 5?

A =COUNTIF(A1:A5, ">5")

B =SUM(A1:A5 > 5)

C =SUMPRODUCT(A1:A5 > 5)

D =COUNT(A1:A5 > 5)

💡 Hint

Use a formula that sums TRUE values as 1 to count items meeting condition.

Option C uses SUMPRODUCT with a condition, counting TRUE as 1, resulting in 2 (7 and 9). Option C also counts correctly but SUMPRODUCT is the advanced method here.