Operators and formula rules
Arithmetic, text, and comparisons
Use core operators, join text with &, and read comparison results with confidence.
Every formula in Google Sheets starts with =. That tells Sheets to compute an expression instead of showing literal text. After the equals sign you can combine numbers, cell references, functions, and operators into one expression.
Arithmetic uses + − * / as you would expect. Exponentiation uses ^, so =2^3 is 8. That differs from some programming languages that use ** for powers—stick to ^ in Sheets.
Which expression correctly raises 2 to the 3rd power in Google Sheets?
Text is joined with the ampersand operator &. For example =A1&" "&B1 puts a space between two cells. You can also use CONCAT or TEXTJOIN when you need delimiters or many pieces; & is the quick way to glue values for labels and IDs.
Write a formula that joins the text in A1 and B1 with no separator (assume text values).
Comparisons produce TRUE or FALSE. Operators include =, <>, <, >, <=, and >=. Note: <> means “not equal.” You can combine logical values with =AND(A1>0,B1<100) or =OR(C1="Yes",C1="Y"), and flip a condition with NOT.
Which comparison operator means "not equal" in Google Sheets?
Order of operations matters. Parentheses always win, then ^, then multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction. So =2+3*4 is 14, not 20—multiply before add unless you write =(2+3)*4. In analytics, extra parentheses are a feature: they document intent for anyone auditing your model.
A classic analytics pitfall is mixing types. If a cell looks like a number but is stored as text, sums may misbehave or comparisons may never fire. If you combine text and numbers with + where & was intended, you may see #VALUE!. Cleaning source data (numbers as numbers, dates as dates) saves hours downstream.
Write a formula for (5 plus 3) times 2 using parentheses so addition happens first.