Divide numbers

Let's say you want to find out how many person hours it took to finish a project (total project hours ÷ total people on project) or the actual miles per gallon rate for your recent cross-country trip (total miles ÷ total gallons). There are several ways divide numbers.What do you want to do?

Divide numbers in a cell

Divide cells in a range

Divide numbers in a cell

To do this task, use the / (forward slash) arithmetic operator.

For example, if you type the following formula in a cell:

=10/5

The cell displays the following result:

2

Divide cells in a range

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
2. Select the example in the Help topic.

   Note Do not select the row or column headers.

   Selecting an example from Help

3. Press CTRL+C.
4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.