How do I populate a whole column using a function?

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dwilson2 Author

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How do I populate a whole column using a function?

I have a table to determine the cost of my inventory (both wholesale and retail). I have the following columns:

Part

Total - the total number of Parts I have

Retail Cost - the price I charge my customers for 1 Part

Wholesale Cost - the price I paid for 1 Part

I want to create a new column called Total Wholesale which is the Product of Total and Wholesale Cost. I can do this by clicking on an individual cell in the Total Wholesale column and typing "=Total*Wholesale Cost". But I don't want to have to click on each cell in the Total Wholesale column and populate it this way. I would like to know if there is a mechanism where I can type in that sequence once and have Numbers use it to populate each individual cell of the Total Wholesale column. There must be a way. What am I missing?

MacBook Pro, Numbers '09

Posted on Dec 28, 2011 10:24 AM

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Answer 1

dwilson2 Author

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Dec 28, 2011 10:52 AM in response to dwilson2

Figured this out on my own. In the first cell of the Total Wholesale column, I typed my formula "=Total*Wholesale Cost". It computed the answer and put the result in that cell. I went back to that cell and selected it. A small circle appeared in the bottom right corner. I clicked on that little circle and dragged the cursor down the whole column. Each of the cells of the column filled with the result of my little formula.

Now, I do recognize that there is this whole issue of relative VS absolute cell addresses to contend with. But that's a topic for another discussion.

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Answer 2

Fred S

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Nov 11, 2013 12:38 AM in response to dwilson2

Thanks! This worked for me, too. I was looking for a way to make one column give the differences of another column, and by putting "=F 3-F 2" into G 3, and following your lead, it worked!

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