Table and matrix visuals in Power BI - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data by Region and Product

Cell	Value
A1	Region
B1	Product
C1	Sales
A2	North
B2	Apples
C2	100
A3	North
B3	Oranges
C3	150
A4	South
B4	Apples
C4	200
A5	South
B5	Oranges
C5	120

Formula Trace

SUM(Sales)

Step 1: SUM(100, 150, 200, 120)

Cell Reference Map

   A       B        C
1 Region  Product  Sales
2  ↓       ↓        ↓
3  ↓       ↓        ↓
4  ↓       ↓        ↓
5  ↓       ↓        ↓

The formula references the Sales column (C2:C5) to sum all sales values.

Result

Table Visual:
+---------+---------+-------+
| Region  | Product | Sales |
+---------+---------+-------+
| North   | Apples  | 100   |
| North   | Oranges | 150   |
| South   | Apples  | 200   |
| South   | Oranges | 120   |
+---------+---------+-------+

Matrix Visual (Sales by Region and Product):
+---------+---------+---------+
|         | Apples  | Oranges |
+---------+---------+---------+
| North   | 100     | 150     |
| South   | 200     | 120     |
+---------+---------+---------+

The table visual shows raw data rows. The matrix visual groups sales by Region (rows) and Product (columns), showing sums in each cell.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the formula SUM(Sales) calculate in this data?

A Total sales across all regions and products

B Sales for North region only

C Sales for Apples only

D Average sales per product

Key Result

SUM aggregates numeric values in a column to produce a total.