Getting data from sources in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This data shows a product list with prices in columns A and B. Columns D and E replicate the same data as a separate source. Cells G1 and G2 are for looking up a product price from the source data.

Cell	Value
A1	Product
B1	Price
A2	Apple
B2	1.2
A3	Banana
B3	0.5
A4	Cherry
B4	2
D1	Product
E1	Price
D2	Apple
E2	1.2
D3	Banana
E3	0.5
D4	Cherry
E4	2
G1	Lookup Product
G2	Banana
H1	Price from Source
H2

Formula Trace

=VLOOKUP(G2, D2:E4, 2, FALSE)

Step 1: VLOOKUP("Banana", D2:E4, 2, FALSE)

Step 2: Found "Banana" in cell D3

Step 3: Return value from 2nd column in row 3

Step 4: Final result

Cell Reference Map

    D       E       G       H
1 |Product| Price |Lookup |Price  
2 |Apple  | 1.2   |Banana |       
3 |Banana | 0.5   |       |       
4 |Cherry | 2.0   |       |       

The formula looks up the value in G2 (Banana) in the range D2:E4, which contains product names and prices.

Result

    G       H
1 |Lookup |Price  
2 |Banana | 0.5   

The formula in H2 shows the price 0.5 for Banana, fetched from the source data in columns D and E.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula =VLOOKUP(G2, D2:E4, 2, FALSE) do?

A Adds all prices in column E

B Returns the product name from G2

C Finds the price of the product named in G2 from the source data in D2:E4

D Searches for the price in column B

Key Result

VLOOKUP looks for a value in the first column of a range and returns a value from a specified column in the same row.