Formula to subtract one cell from total

[Mel Taylor]

Hi, I'm not a regular user of Excel but I need a formula to sum a column of figures and subtract another cell value ie: =SUM(E1:E10)-A10 . I've tried this but it doesn't work, any help please

 

[Joe4]

Welcome to the Board!

That formula works fine. Exactly how is it not working? Are you getting errors or unexpected results?
Note that if you values are entered as text and not numbers, that could present problems.

P.S. - I would also recommend choosing better thread titles in the future!

 

[Mel Taylor]

Hi Joe, thanks for your quick reply. I have a column of Money values that I want to total with a figure from another cell subtracted if that makes sense. A simple example would be a column of payments received minus a sum from a different cell.

 

[Joe4]

Yes, I see what you are trying to do. And your formula is valid (that is how you would do it).

If it is not working for you, please explain to us exactly how it is not working for you?
Are you getting errors?
Are you getting unexpected results?

If you could show us sample data and let us know what result you are getting, that might help us determine what is going on.

 

[Mel Taylor]

Thanks Joe, I think I have solved it now, it was happening because the figure in the column were produced with another formula, which creates a nested effect.

 

[Joe4]

it was happening because the figure in the column were produced with another formula, which creates a nested effect.

It should really make no difference whether the numbers are hard-coded or come from a formula, UNLESS:
- your formula is actually returning "numbers as text" instead of "numbers as numbers" (that is easily rectifiable)
- you have a circular reference going on somewhere