Simple Rookie Formula Question

[exceldotcom]

Hi everyone! Pleasure to have become a member of the community. I hope to become a net contributor to the board in the future. Alas, now I will posting (hopefully) pretty basic stuff. I mostly self-taught myself Excel and became pretty proficient from my former job in benefits (typical basic IF statements, VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables etc.), unfortunately being self-taught I likely missed some pretty easy stuff along the way. I'm trying to back into some formulas that have been left behind by a former employee to which I need some assistance with.

=IF(P5="",K5,ROUND(O5*(P5/100),2)) --- (This formula is in column Q)

P = Incentive Target %, i.e. 40%
K = Incentive $, i.e. $71,753
O = New Base Salary $, i.e. $190,838
Q = Header is "Incentive $", i.e. $76,153

Can anyone explain what is going on here? I understand the context but not really the math that is going on inside this formula...

Thanks all! Please forgive if I have pasted this in the wrong section.

 

[Dave Patton]

Excel 2010
	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q
5	71,753.00				190,838.00	40	76,335.20
6	71,753.00				190,838.00	40%	76,335.20
7	71,753.00				190,838.00	40%	76,335.20
8
1a

Cell Formulas
Range	Formula
Q5	=IF(P5="",K5,ROUND(O5*(P5/100),2))
Q6	=ROUND(O6*P6,2)
Q7	=O7*P7

The formula is calculating 40% of the amount in O.
P5 the 40 is just a number; to make it a % divide it by 100 see row 6
Please check the data that you included.

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