What do the brackets stand for in spreadsheet?

Answer 1

Brackets are used in different ways in a spreadsheet. Most commonly you will see them in functions, with what is needed for the function, referred to as arguments, being put inside the brackets. All functions have brackets and most require that something is put inside them. Examples include the following:

=SUM(A1:A15)

=Left(A2,5)

Brackets can be used in calculations to change the precedence of operators. This is standard from the laws of mathematics. For example, in mathematics you do all multiplications and divisions before any additions and divisions. The following calculation gives 20, not 60, because the multiplication has to be done first:

=10+2*5

To get the 10+2 done first, which will make the final result 60, you would include it in brackets, like this:

=(10+2)*5

Brackets are sometimes used to indicate negative numbers, instead of using the minus sign. The proper name for these kind of brackets or round brackets is parentheses. You will also see the curly brackets { and } which are properly called braces. They are used to indicate arrays, which are lists of values that can be used in formulas.