Tables (Insert Table) and benefits in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

A simple list of people with their age and city before converting to a table.

Cell	Value
A1	Name
B1	Age
C1	City
A2	Alice
B2	30
C2	New York
A3	Bob
B3	25
C3	Los Angeles
A4	Charlie
B4	35
C4	Chicago

Formula Trace

=SUM(Table1[Age])

Step 1: Table1[Age]

Step 2: SUM({30, 25, 35})

Cell Reference Map

    A       B       C
1 | Name  | Age   | City     |
2 | Alice | 30    | New York |
3 | Bob   | 25    | Los Angeles |
4 | Charlie | 35  | Chicago  |

Table1 covers A1:C4 with headers and data.

The formula references the 'Age' column inside the table named Table1, which includes cells B2 to B4.

Result

    A       B       C
1 | Name  | Age   | City     |
2 | Alice | 30    | New York |
3 | Bob   | 25    | Los Angeles |
4 | Charlie | 35  | Chicago  |
5 |       | 90    |          |  <-- Result of =SUM(Table1[Age]) in B5

The formula result 90 is shown in cell B5, which is the sum of all ages in the table.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula =SUM(Table1[Age]) calculate?

A The total of all ages in the Age column of Table1

B The number of rows in Table1

C The average age in Table1

D The sum of all values in the City column

Key Result

SUM(TableName[ColumnName]) sums all values in a specific column of a table.