Data Tables (What-If) in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table shows a simple price and quantity with a formula to calculate total cost (Price * Quantity). Below is a data table setup to test different price and quantity combinations to see their total cost.

Cell	Value
A1	Price
B1	Quantity
C1	Total Cost
A2	10
B2	5
C2	=A2*B2
A4	Price
B4	Quantity
C4	Total Cost
A5	8
A6	10
A7	12
B5	4
B6	5
B7	6
C5
C6
C7

Formula Trace

Data Table uses the formula in C2 (=A2*B2) with input values from A5:A7 (Price) and B5:B7 (Quantity) to fill C5:C7 with results.

Step 1: Original formula in C2: =A2*B2

Step 2: Data Table input: Price values in A5:A7 (8, 10, 12), Quantity values in B5:B7 (4, 5, 6)

Step 3: Calculate Total Cost for Price=8, Quantity=4: 8 * 4

Step 4: Calculate Total Cost for Price=10, Quantity=5: 10 * 5

Step 5: Calculate Total Cost for Price=12, Quantity=6: 12 * 6

Cell Reference Map

    A      B      C
1 |Price |Quantity|Total Cost|
2 |  10  |   5    |=A2*B2   |

4 |Price |Quantity|Total Cost|
5 |  8   |   4    |         |
6 | 10   |   5    |         |
7 | 12   |   6    |         |

The formula in C2 references A2 and B2. The data table uses values from A5:A7 and B5:B7 to substitute into A2 and B2 for recalculations.

Result

    A      B      C
1 |Price |Quantity|Total Cost|
2 |  10  |   5    |   50    |

4 |Price |Quantity|Total Cost|
5 |  8   |   4    |   32    |
6 | 10   |   5    |   50    |
7 | 12   |   6    |   72    |

The data table fills column C (Total Cost) with results of multiplying Price and Quantity from columns A and B for each row.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula in cell C2 calculate?

A Price multiplied by Quantity

B Price plus Quantity

C Quantity minus Price

D Price divided by Quantity

Key Result

Data Tables substitute input values into a formula to calculate multiple results automatically.