Why advanced charts tell better stories in Excel - Formula Trace Breakdown

Sample Data

Monthly sales and profit data for four months.

Cell	Value
A1	Month
B1	Sales
C1	Profit
A2	Jan
B2	1000
C2	200
A3	Feb
B3	1500
C3	300
A4	Mar
B4	1200
C4	250
A5	Apr
B5	1700
C5	400

Formula Trace

=B2/B3

Step 1: B2

Step 2: B3

Step 3: 1000 / 1500

Cell Reference Map

     A       B       C
  +-------+-------+-------+
1 | Month | Sales | Profit|
  +-------+-------+-------+
2 |  Jan  | 1000  |  200  |
  +-------+-------+-------+
3 |  Feb  | 1500  |  300  |
  +-------+-------+-------+

Arrows: B2 --> formula, B3 --> formula

Formula divides sales of January (B2) by sales of February (B3) to compare sales performance.

Result

     A       B       C       D
  +-------+-------+-------+---------+
1 | Month | Sales | Profit| Ratio   |
  +-------+-------+-------+---------+
2 |  Jan  | 1000  |  200  | 0.6667  |
  +-------+-------+-------+---------+
3 |  Feb  | 1500  |  300  |         |
  +-------+-------+-------+---------+

The formula result 0.6667 in cell D2 shows January sales are about 66.67% of February sales, helping tell a clearer story about sales trends.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula =B2/B3 calculate?

A The ratio of January sales to February sales

B The sum of January and February sales

C The difference between January and February sales

D The profit margin for January

Key Result

Division formulas compare values by dividing one cell by another to show ratios.