Percent of total in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data for three fruit categories.

Cell	Value
A1	Category
B1	Sales
A2	Apples
B2	100
A3	Bananas
B3	150
A4	Cherries
B4	250

Formula Trace

SUM([Sales]) / TOTAL(SUM([Sales]))

Step 1: SUM([Sales]) for Apples

Step 2: SUM([Sales]) for Bananas

Step 3: SUM([Sales]) for Cherries

Step 4: TOTAL(SUM([Sales])) across all categories

Step 5: Percent of total for Apples: 100 / 500

Step 6: Percent of total for Bananas: 150 / 500

Step 7: Percent of total for Cherries: 250 / 500

Cell Reference Map

   A        B
1 Category  Sales
2 Apples    100
3 Bananas   150
4 Cherries  250

Arrows: Sales values in B2:B4 feed into the formula calculation.

The formula uses sales values from cells B2, B3, and B4 to calculate the percent of total.

Result

   A        B           C
1 Category  Sales       % of Total
2 Apples    100         20%
3 Bananas   150         30%
4 Cherries  250         50%

The % of Total column shows each category's sales as a percentage of the total sales.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What is the total sales value used in the percent of total calculation?

A 250

B 150

C 500

D 100

Key Result

SUM([Measure]) / TOTAL(SUM([Measure])) calculates percent of total for each category.