I'm trying to add bracket characters around numbers without
altering the number.

E.g. a cell contains the number 20, but I want the cell to
display (20). But when I type in the brackets and press
enter, the number becomes -20. How can I get round this
and keep the bracket characters intact?

Also i want to do calculations on the numbers e.g. a cell
contains (20), another cell contains (5), and i want a third
cell to display the sum of the two numbers with bracket
characters around the answer i.e. (25). Is it possible to do this?

Many thanks for any help

P.S. I've found the help files with the program minimal, can anyone
recommend a good learning resource for Excel?