Size encoding in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data by product category

Cell	Value
A1	Category
B1	Sales
A2	Furniture
B2	5000
A3	Office Supplies
B3	3000
A4	Technology
B4	7000

Formula Trace

SIZE_ENCODE(SUM([Sales]))

Step 1: SUM([Sales])

Step 2: SIZE_ENCODE(SUM([Sales]))

Cell Reference Map

   A             B
1 Category     Sales
2 Furniture    5000
3 Office Supplies   3000
4 Technology  7000

References: B2, B3, B4 for SUM([Sales])

The formula sums sales values from cells B2, B3, and B4 to encode size

Result

Category       Sales      Size Encoding
---------------------------------------
Furniture      5000       ●●
Office Supplies      3000       ●
Technology     7000       ●●●

Size of circles grows with sales amount

Each category's sales value is shown as a circle sized proportionally to the sales amount, making it easy to compare sizes visually

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the SUM([Sales]) step calculate?

A Sales of the largest category only

B Sales total for each category

C Average sales per category

D Number of categories

Key Result

Size encoding maps a numeric measure to a proportional visual size (e.g., circle size) for easy comparison