My formula is just being repeated back to me in the spreadsheet instead of being calculated. How can I make the spreadsheet calculate the formula?
Try going to Tools | Options | LO Calc - under View ensure that Display: Formulae is unchecked.
If that doesn’t solve the issue, try View | Value Highlighting; the formula should show as green. If it is black, you have entered it as text; if you look in the input line above the cells, you’ll probably see the formula starts with a single quote '
Remove that and the formula should work.
If this answer helped you, please accept it by clicking the check mark to the left and, karma permitting, upvote it. If this resolves your problem, close the question, that will help other people with the same question.