Why Google Sheets is essential for collaboration - Formula Trace Breakdown

Sample Data

This sheet shows a simple project task list with team members, their tasks, and current status.

Cell	Value
A1	Name
B1	Task
C1	Status
A2	Alice
B2	Design
C2	In Progress
A3	Bob
B3	Development
C3	Not Started
A4	Carol
B4	Testing
C4	Completed

Formula Trace

=COUNTIF(C2:C4, "Completed")

Step 1: C2:C4 values = ["In Progress", "Not Started", "Completed"]

Step 2: COUNTIF(range, "Completed") counts how many cells equal "Completed"

Cell Reference Map

    A       B           C
1 | Name  | Task      | Status     |
2 | Alice | Design    | In Progress|
3 | Bob   | Development| Not Started|
4 | Carol | Testing   | Completed  |

Formula references cells C2, C3, C4 for status values.

The formula uses the status column cells C2 to C4 to count how many tasks are completed.

Result

    A       B           C
1 | Name  | Task      | Status     |
2 | Alice | Design    | In Progress|
3 | Bob   | Development| Not Started|
4 | Carol | Testing   | Completed  |
5 |       |           | 1          |

Cell C5 shows the result of the formula: 1 task completed.

The formula result '1' appears in cell C5, showing one completed task in the list.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula =COUNTIF(C2:C4, "Completed") count?

A Number of tasks marked as Completed

B Number of tasks marked as In Progress

C Total number of tasks

D Number of team members

Key Result

COUNTIF(range, criteria) counts how many cells in the range meet the criteria.