Running totals in column

[r2pgh]

Hello all. I'm very (very ) new to Excel. I come from the MySql/PHP world so my question is about what's possible to with this program.

More specifically I have two columns. Column A is date. Column B is a result. There can be only two results X or Y. So it looks like this:

1/1/10 X
1/2/10 Y
1/3/10 Y
1/4/10 Y
1/5/10 X

What I'd like to do is have a third column keep a running total if X = +1, and Y = -1. So ideally the result would look like this:

1/1/10 X +1
1/2/10 Y 0
1/3/10 Y -1
1/4/10 Y -2
1/5/10 X -1

and so on ...

Is this possible in excel, and where would I begin? Thanks very much.

[estige]

If the first date is in A1, C1: =IF(B1="X",1,-1)
C2 and copy down: =IF(B2="X",C1+1,C1-1)

[r2pgh]

Thank you replying. I'll try that now and see what I get.

[r2pgh]

That works brilliantly. Thanks! One more question - Can I say If B1 starts with X, rather than equals X?

[Teethless mama]

Assuming your data start in row 2

C2: =C1+(B2="X")-(B2="Y")

copy down as far as needed

[r2pgh]

Ok. I've almost go this figured out thanks to this forum. I have the following formula:

=IF(LEFT(B3)="X",C2+1,C2-1)

How would say the following (if there is a third result other than X or Y)?

If B3 starts with X, add one to C2, if B3 starts with Y, subtract one from C2, otherwise add zero (or keep C3 the same as C2).

[estige]

=if(left(b3)="X",c2+1,if(left(b3)="Y",c2-1,c2))

[r2pgh]

Perfect! Thanks very much Estige. And this forum.