My answers to your most recent points are interspersed in your post,
--
David Biddulph

Judy wrote:
I must really be dense or something because I'm not getting this at
all. If the 1-10 is not subtracting, then what number is being
multiplied by B2?

Maybe you missed reading the bit to which you were replying:
" It's not 1 minus 10, it's 1 - 10*B2
(Remember that multiplication has precedence over subtraction in the
precedence of arithmetic operators)."

Would it be easier if I added parentheses?
1 - (10*B2)
but we didn't need the parentheses because:
" (Remember that multiplication has precedence over subtraction in the
precedence of arithmetic operators)."

If this idea of precedence is difficult for you, it is explained in Excel
help at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...788861033.aspx

What you are seeing in the copied spreadsheet is the entire
spreadsheet. There are not 10 rows, 10 columns, nor 10 figures, so I
still don't understand what the
1-10 relates to in the formula.

I didn't say anything about 10 rows or 10 columns or 10 figures, I said:

" If you don't understand where the 10 comes from, how many percent do you
reduce A3*1% by for every 1% change in row 2?"

but you didn't try to answer my question, which is presumably why you didn't
understand what I was saying.

The answer to my question is that when B2 is 1%, you have subtracted 10%
from A3*1%.
When C2 is 2%, you subtract 20% from A3*1%.
The 1% in B2, when multiplied by 10, gives 10%, and that is what you are
subtracting from 1, before you multiply the result by A3*1% to get the
answer in B3. [Note that in your original question you said "The formula in
cell B2" where I am sure that you meant that that was the formula in B3.]
The 2% in C2, when multiplied by 10, gives 20%, and that is what you are
subtracting from 1, before you multiply the result by A3*1% to get the
answer in C3.

Is that getting clearer?

"David Biddulph" wrote:

It's not 1 minus 10, it's 1 - 10*B2
(Remember that multiplication has precedence over subtraction in the
precedence of arithmetic operators).

If you don't understand where the 10 comes from, how many percent do
you reduce A3*1% by for every 1% change in row 2?
--
David Biddulph

Judy wrote:
I figured the 1-10 meant 1 minus 10, but I don't know where that's
coming from. I don't see 10 of anything in the spreadsheet, so what
is the 1 minus 10 relating to?

"Rasoul Khoshravan" wrote:

one minus 10 multiplied by B2

On Feb 7, 7:36 am, Judy wrote:
I have inherited the spreadsheet below containing a two-variable
data table. Can someone tell me what the 1-10 portion of the
formula means; I can't find what it is relating to.

The formula in cell B2 is: =A3*1%*(1-10*B2)

A B C D E
F G
1 Expense vs. Sales
2 0 1% 2% 4% 6% 8%
3 Sales $1,000,000 9000 8000 6000 4000 2000
4 $2,000,000 18000 16000 12000 8000 4000
5 $3,000,000 27000 24000 18000 12000 6000
6 $4,000,000 36000 32000 24000 16000 8000
7 $5,000,000 45000 40000 30000 20000 10000

Thanks for the help.