Use them BEFORE you set them to zero of course. For example
value1 = str2double(handles.edit1.String);
value2 = str2double(handles.edit2.String);
firstValue = 2 * value1 + 5 * value2; % or whatever your formula is.
% Now use this first value to compute a "second" value.
secondValue = 9 * firstValue; % or whatever your formula is.
% Now set edit box strings (that were used in the
% calculation of the firstValue) equal to zero.
handles.edit1.String = '0';
handles.edit2.String = '0';
