Why advanced charts tell deeper stories in Google Sheets - Formula Trace Breakdown

Sample Data

Monthly sales and expenses data for a small business

Cell	Value
A1	Month
B1	Sales
C1	Expenses
A2	Jan
B2	1000
C2	400
A3	Feb
B3	1200
C3	500
A4	Mar
B4	900
C4	450
A5	Apr
B5	1400
C5	600

Formula Trace

=B2-C2

Step 1: B2 - C2

Step 2: 600

Cell Reference Map

    A       B       C
1  Month   Sales  Expenses
2  Jan     1000   400  <-- formula here: =B2-C2
3  Feb     1200   500
4  Mar     900    450
5  Apr     1400   600

Formula in cell D2 calculates profit by subtracting expenses (C2) from sales (B2) for January

Result

    A       B       C       D
1  Month   Sales  Expenses Profit
2  Jan     1000   400      600
3  Feb     1200   500      
4  Mar     900    450      
5  Apr     1400   600      

Profit column shows the difference between sales and expenses for January, revealing the actual earnings

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula =B2-C2 calculate?

A Profit by subtracting expenses from sales

B Total sales and expenses added

C Difference between months

D Expenses minus sales

Key Result

Subtract expenses from sales to calculate profit for each month