Reading and writing cell values in Google Sheets - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This sheet has two columns of numbers in A and B. Column C is empty and will be used to write formulas that read values from columns A and B.

Cell	Value
A1	10
A2	20
A3	30
B1	5
B2	15
B3	25
C1
C2
C3

Formula Trace

=A1 + B1

Step 1: A1

Step 2: B1

Step 3: 10 + 5

Cell Reference Map

    A    B    C
1 | 10 |  5 | -> |
2 | 20 | 15 |    |
3 | 30 | 25 |    |

The formula in cell C1 reads values from A1 and B1 to calculate the sum.

Result

    A    B    C
1 | 10 |  5 | 15 |
2 | 20 | 15 |    |
3 | 30 | 25 |    |

Cell C1 shows the result of adding A1 and B1, which is 15.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What value does the formula =A1 + B1 read from cell A1?

A 5

B 10

C 15

D 0

Key Result

Simple addition formula reads values from two cells and adds them.