Excel is a spreadsheet software that is widely used for data analysis, calculations and organizing. One of the basic operations in Excel is multiplication. In this article, we’ll discuss how to multiply in Excel and the different methods that you can use.

The simplest way to multiply in Excel is by using the multiplication operator ‘*’. You can multiply two numbers in Excel by typing the first number, followed by the multiplication operator, then the second number. For example, if you want to multiply 5 and 6, you can type ‘5*6’ in a cell (without the quotes) and press enter. The cell will now show the result, which is 30.

Another way to multiply in Excel is by using the ‘PRODUCT’ function. The PRODUCT function is a built-in Excel function that multiplies all the numbers in a given range of cells. To use this function, you need to select the range of cells that you want to multiply and type ‘=PRODUCT(CELL RANGE)’ in a cell, then press enter. For example, if you want to multiply the numbers in cells A1 to A4, you can type ‘=PRODUCT(A1:A4)’ in another cell and press enter. The cell will now show the result of the multiplication.

You can also use the ‘*’ operator and the PRODUCT function to multiply matrices in Excel. A matrix is a two-dimensional array of numbers, arranged in rows and columns. To multiply two matrices in Excel, you need to use the ‘MMULT’ function. The MMULT function multiplies two matrices and returns the matrix product. To use this function, you need to select the range of cells that contain the first matrix, then type ‘=MMULT(MATRIX1, MATRIX2)’ in another cell, where MATRIX1 is the range of cells that contain the first matrix, and MATRIX2 is the range of cells that contain the second matrix.

In addition, if you want to multiply a range of cells by a single number or value, you can use the ‘*’ operator or the ‘=PRODUCT’ function. For example, if you want to multiply the numbers in cells A1 to A4 by 10, you can type ‘=PRODUCT(A1:A4)*10’ in another cell and press enter. The cell will now show the result of the multiplication.

In conclusion, multiplying in Excel is a basic operation that is used in various calculations and data analysis. You can use the multiplication operator ‘*’, the PRODUCT function, and the MMULT function to multiply numbers, matrices or ranges of cells. By mastering these functions, you can quickly and easily perform multiplication operations in Excel.