Sparklines (LINE, BAR, COLUMN) in Google Sheets - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

📊 Formula Result

intermediate

What does this SPARKLINE formula display?

Given the data in cells A1:A5 as {5, 10, 15, 10, 5}, what type of sparkline will appear with this formula?

=SPARKLINE(A1:A5, {"charttype", "line"})

Google Sheets

=SPARKLINE(A1:A5, {"charttype", "line"})

A A line graph showing a peak at the middle value (15) and lower values at start and end

B A bar chart with 5 bars of equal height

C A column chart with decreasing heights from left to right

D An error because the charttype is misspelled

💡 Hint

Think about what a line sparkline does with a range of numbers.

The formula creates a line sparkline that connects the points 5, 10, 15, 10, 5, showing a peak at 15 in the middle.

📊 Formula Result

intermediate

What output does this BAR sparkline produce?

If cells B1:B4 contain {3, 6, 9, 12}, what will this formula show?

=SPARKLINE(B1:B4, {"charttype", "bar"})

Google Sheets

=SPARKLINE(B1:B4, {"charttype", "bar"})

A A line sparkline connecting points 3, 6, 9, 12

B A vertical column sparkline with 4 columns of equal height

C A blank cell because bar sparklines need numeric arrays

D A horizontal bar sparkline with 4 bars increasing in length from left to right

💡 Hint

Bar sparklines show horizontal bars representing values.

The bar sparkline draws horizontal bars for each value, so bars get longer as values increase from 3 to 12.

❓ Function Choice

advanced

Which SPARKLINE formula creates a column chart with red bars?

You want a column sparkline with red bars for data in C1:C6. Which formula is correct?

A =SPARKLINE(C1:C6, {"charttype", "column", "color", "red"})

B =SPARKLINE(C1:C6, {"charttype", "bar", "color", "red"})

C =SPARKLINE(C1:C6, {"charttype", "column", "color1", "red"})

D =SPARKLINE(C1:C6, {"charttype", "line", "color", "red"})

💡 Hint

Check the correct option name for bar color in column sparklines.

Option A uses the correct charttype 'column' and the correct option 'color' to set bar color to red.

🎯 Scenario

advanced

Troubleshoot why a sparkline shows a flat line

You entered =SPARKLINE(D1:D5, {"charttype", "line"}) but the sparkline shows a flat line even though data varies. What is the most likely cause?

A The formula needs an extra argument to show variation

B The data range D1:D5 contains text or blank cells instead of numbers

C The sparkline only works with bar charts

D The charttype 'line' is not supported in Google Sheets

💡 Hint

Sparklines need numeric data to show variation.

If the data range has text or blanks, the sparkline treats values as zero, resulting in a flat line.

❓ data_analysis

expert

Analyze the effect of missing options in SPARKLINE

Given data in E1:E7 as {2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2}, what will this formula display?

=SPARKLINE(E1:E7)

Choose the best description of the sparkline output.

Google Sheets

=SPARKLINE(E1:E7)

A A column sparkline with bars increasing then decreasing

B An error because charttype is missing

C A line sparkline showing a peak at 8 and symmetric shape

D A bar sparkline with 7 bars of equal length

💡 Hint

SPARKLINE defaults to a line chart if no charttype is given.

Without specifying charttype, SPARKLINE defaults to a line chart showing the data shape with a peak at 8.