"Brendy" wrote:
can any of you give me some tips on when and where I
should be putting parentheses after the = sign when writing
a formula or direct me to any good articles explaining so in
an idiots guide if possible.

I presume you are asking about parentheses in arithmetic
expressions (like 2 + 5*6), not functions. For the latter, you
put parentheses exactly where the syntax requires it. Consult
the function Help page.

For expressions, go to Help Excel Help, search for "precedence",
select "About calculation operators", and select "The order in
which Excel performs operations" for an explanation.

I prefer to minimize the use of parentheses, relying on operator
precedence. Other people prefer to maximize the use of
parentheses when mixing operators. So I might write 5 + 6*7
to mean 5 + 42, whereas others might prefer 5 + (6*7), even
though the parentheses are superfluous in that case. On the
other hand, parentheses would be required if I meant 11 * 7
-- that is, (5 + 6)*7.

Hope that helps. If you want to know about parentheses in
other contexts, provide specific examples.