I have two separate cells. One is a number, for example cell B1 with a value
of 0.109. The other, B2, is in the format "* A1". I'm trying to combine the
two cells so they will display the value of "0.109 * A1", where A1 is a
reference to the cell A1. I've copied these cells from another program and
Excel does not seem to recognize that the text "* A1" works in a formula.
I've tried using a formula like

B1&B2
or
B1+B2

but the formatting is not correct and excel just displays the function
without evaluating it to the number it should represent. Any suggestions?

thank you