The MS Excel worksheet below shows the salary distribution for four staff of a company. The net salary is paid after deductions have been made. S/N A B C D ...

The formula used to obtain the value in cell E2 is: = B2 + C2 - D2 This is because the net salary is calculated by subtracting the total deduction from the sum of the basic salary and total allowance. In the worksheet, the basic salary is in column B, total allowance is in column C, and total deduction is in column D. Therefore, to calculate the net salary for the first staff, we need to add the values in B2 and C2, and then subtract the value in D2, giving the formula = B2 + C2 - D2. Option (a) is the correct formula for calculating the net salary in cell E2. Option (b) adds the deduction instead of subtracting it, divides the sum by 3, which is not applicable to the calculation of net salary, and subtracts only the total deduction from the total allowance, which does not give the correct net salary.