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If Excel displays equals signs instead of answers, do not rewrite the workbook yet.

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First ask whether every formula is visible or only one cell is affected.

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Our fictional practice book has three tabs, one for each cause.

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By the end, the three cells should calculate to twenty four,

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thirty six, and thirty, with the original inputs still intact.

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Open the Show Formulas tab.

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Cell D2 already contains a real formula and initially shows twenty four.

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Turn on Show Formulas from the Formulas tab to reproduce the

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symptom, then turn it off again.

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If many formulas across a real sheet are visible at once,

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this is the quickest cause to check before touching individual cells.

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On the Text Format tab, D2 is blank and preformatted as Text.

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Enter equals B2 times C2 there to reproduce a literal formula.

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Changing the cell format to General alone may leave the existing text untouched.

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After switching the format, re-enter the expression so Excel parses it.

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The inputs are four and nine, so the result should be thirty six.

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On the Leading Apostrophe tab, D2 starts blank.

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Type a leading apostrophe followed by equals B2 times C2 to reproduce literal text.

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Then remove that prefix and re-enter the formula normally.

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The inputs are five and six, so the answer should be thirty.

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In your own workbook, first confirm that an apostrophe is really

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present before deleting one that may preserve an identifier.

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Each practice tab uses the same multiplication expression, equals B2 times C2.

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That makes the cause, rather than the arithmetic, the variable in this exercise.

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Before changing a cell, compare its formula bar and number format

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with the answer checklist.

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If the expression itself is missing an equals sign, enter it

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exactly as shown here and then check the result.

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Return to each tab and compare the visible result with the independent arithmetic.

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Show Formulas is three times eight, which is twenty four.

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Text Format is four times nine, or thirty six.

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Leading Apostrophe is five times six, or thirty.

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A correct result in one tab does not prove that the

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other two causes were fixed.

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For your own workbook, start with the scope of the symptom.

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If many formulas show, inspect Show Formulas.

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If only one cell shows literal text, check its number format

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and then the beginning of its formula bar entry.

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Keep a copy of important data before bulk changes.

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If the cell shows a numeric answer that fails to update,

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investigate calculation settings separately.