Order of Precedence By default, Microsoft Excel evaluates formulas based on this Order of Precedence: 1. Reference operators: Colon, space, comma 2. Negation: For example a negative number -1 3. Percentage: Percent (%) 4. Exponentiation: Raising to a power (^) 5. Multiply (*) and Divide (/) 6. Plus (+) and Minus (-) 7. Concatenation: Combining text (&) 8. Comparison: Equals, Less than, Greater than.   2. Consider This: Review the Math Look at the simple equation on this page. Microsoft Excel reads a formula from Left to Right. This equation has Multiplication and Addition. The answer will be quite different, depending on how you solve the equation.   So, how would Excel solve this problem? PEMDAS: add up whatever is between the parenthesis. Then multiply the sum of the numbers by 0.25.   Keep going... Formulas ->Formula Auditing Exam 77-882: Microsoft Excel 2010 Core 5. Applying Formulas and Functions 5.2. Enforce precedence: Precedence using parenthesis