# Excel question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question/1020645 "2025-07-08T23:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question/1020645/8 "2025-07-09T16:25:03Z")
There’s quite a good discussion of these sorts of precendence issues in this thread from late last year: > [@Equation: Order of operations](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equation-order-of-operations/1012088): > > 6 ÷ 2(1+2) I would solve it like this: 6 ÷ 2(3) 6 ÷ 6 = 1 The calculator on my iPhone solves it like this: (6 ÷ 2) x 3 3 x 3 = 9 PEMDAS: Parentheses, Exponent, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. So: Parenteses = 1 + 2 = 3 (No exponents) Multiplication - 2 x 3 = 6 Division = 6 ÷ 6 = 1 Am I right, or is my phone right? Along about post 94 it switches gears to the various forms of confusion available between monadic negation, dyadic subtraction, and the leading negative specifier of a digit string all using the “-” symbol for what are actually different ideas. that portion, from post 94 to the end, bears directly on the OP. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question/1020645)._