Top N filters in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data for different fruit products.

Cell	Value
A1	Product
B1	Sales
A2	Apples
B2	100
A3	Bananas
B3	150
A4	Cherries
B4	90
A5	Dates
B5	120
A6	Elderberries
B6	80

Formula Trace

INDEX() <= 3

Step 1: Sort products by Sales descending

Step 2: Assign INDEX() to each product in sorted list

Step 3: Evaluate INDEX() <= 3 for each product

Cell Reference Map

Sort by B descending

↓

Apply INDEX() to sorted list

The filter uses the Sales column (B) to sort products and INDEX() to rank them.

Result

   A          B
1 Product    Sales
2 Bananas    150
3 Dates      120
4 Apples     100

(Only top 3 products shown after filter)

The Top N filter shows only the three products with the highest sales.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the INDEX() function represent in this Top N filter?

A The total sales of each product

B The position of each product after sorting by sales

C The product name length

D The average sales across all products

Key Result

Top N filters use INDEX() on a sorted measure to keep only the top N rows.