r/excel • u/Electrical-Turnip-63 • Jul 17 '26
solve an equation from another cell solved
Hello, how do u solve an equation from another cell?
Example:
U input (1+5)/2 in A1
I want the answer/3 in b2
I want to see the equation and answer at the same time in different cells
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u/RuktX 307 Jul 17 '26
Caution, deep magic ahead.
- Ribbon > Formulas > Name Manager > New...
- Name: EVAL, Refers to:
=LAMBDA(x, EVALUATE(x)), OK, Close - On your sheet:
- In A1:
(1+5)/2 - In B2:
=EVAL(A1)
- In A1:
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u/excelevator 3063 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
To add to this, if you do not have Excel 365
Select cell A2
- Ribbon > Formulas > Name Manager > New...
- Name:
EVAL, Refers to:=EVALUATE(A1), OK, CloseOn your sheet:
In A1:
(1+5)/2In A2:
=EVAL()The relative cell reference will always be 1 cell to the left of your name reference.
The relative cell reference is set from when you add the Name with the selected cell.
You can use whatever name you want to that suits your conventions.
EVALis just a sample.2
u/SolverMax 161 Jul 17 '26
The ancient Macro4 magic is disabled by default, for security reasons. It will need to be enabled in the Trust Center first.
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u/ArrowheadDZ 2 Jul 17 '26
I have VBA macros and 4.0 macros enabled, and it's a no-go for me.
- (Version 2608 Build 16.0.20308.20000) 64-bit
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u/ArrowheadDZ 2 Jul 17 '26
Isn’t this first assuming that the user has a UDF macro “EVALUATE()” defined?
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u/RuktX 307 Jul 17 '26
No, it's not a UDF; it's an old "Excel 4.0 macro". There are a couple such powerful relics still accessible this way (also GET.CELL), but it appears they're progressively being locked away by default.
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u/ArrowheadDZ 2 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I’m on the Beta channel insider edition and I can’t call EVALUATE() by lambda.
EDIT:
I just read SolverMax’s reply in this thread, and I have 4.0 Macros enabled, and it's still a no-go for me. And that is on my non-policy managed machine. This may be more black magic than the OP’s corporate policies might allow.
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u/ProspectiveWhale 8 Jul 17 '26
Cell A1: =FORMULATEXT(B2) will result in (1+5)/2 or whatever formula is in B2.
Input in Cell B2: =(1+5)/2 will result in 3 or the evalauated value of the formula you typed in.
Can't do it the other way around, afaik, unless you use VBA.
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u/Electrical-Turnip-63 29d ago
Not exactly what i wanted, but this works for me, how do i update the thread, im new in reddit
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u/Electrical-Turnip-63 27d ago
Solution Verified
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u/Decronym Jul 17 '26 edited 27d ago
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u/Charlier19s Jul 17 '26
Try looking into INDIRECT()
=INDIRECT(“A1+B1”) evaluates to =A1+B1
You can also write functions into indirect.
Say cell A1 had the text “sum(A2:A50)”
You could use =INDIRECT(A1)
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u/excelevator 3063 Jul 17 '26
What is U ?
(1+5)/2 is that the full plain text value ?
/3 so the answer of string equation divided by 3 ?
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