Find formulas using the wrong month’s price in WPS Spreadsheet

Quick answer: Start with the price cell and use Formulas → Trace Dependents to find formulas that read it. Check whether those formulas belong to the intended month. Correct the reference in the affected formula, not the source price used by other valid calculations.

Create a small model with one deliberate error

Enter this synthetic model in A1:D3. This is an original practice example, not a copy of the vendor’s exercise.

Row	A: Month	B: Units	C: Price	D: Revenue formula
2	April	10	12	=B2*C2
3	May	8	15	=B3*C2

In D4 enter =SUM(D2:D3). Initially D2 is 120, D3 is 96, and D4 is 216. May’s formula is intentionally wrong: it uses April’s price. The correct May amount is 8 × 15 = 120, so the correct grand total is 240. See SUM.

A plain-data CSV contains the three input columns. Import it into A1:C3 if useful, then enter the D formulas manually. The CSV does not contain trace arrows or a completed model.

Trace outward from the price

1. Select C2, April’s price.
2. Choose Formulas → Trace Dependents.
3. Inspect the cells shown as using C2. In this model D2 and D3 both refer directly to it.
4. D2 belongs to April and is appropriate. D3 belongs to May and needs investigation: the May price is in C3.
5. Select D3 and inspect the formula bar. Confirm that its expression is =B3*C2 before changing anything.

WPS documents this input-to-formula investigation in Trace Dependents. The tool exposes reference relationships; it cannot know which month’s price your business intended.

Correct the reference and verify the result

Change D3 to =B3*C3. Do not overwrite C2 with May’s price: April’s calculation legitimately needs the original 12.

Expected results after correction are D2 120, D3 120, D4 240. The correction increases the total by 24. If the total becomes 270, check whether you changed April’s source price to 15 instead of repairing the May reference.

As a controlled dependency test, temporarily change C2 from 12 to 13. April should become 130, May should stay 120, and total should become 250. Restore C2 to 12. This verifies that the two months no longer share the wrong input.

Trace inward as a second check

Select D3 and choose Formulas → Trace Precedents. Its direct inputs should now be B3 and C3. WPS’s Trace Precedents lesson documents this reverse view and Remove Arrows. Use Remove Arrows when the inspection is finished; removing arrows is cleanup of the view, not a change to the formula.

If the visual trace is unclear

• Read the formula bar as well as the arrows. Crowded sheets can make arrow destinations difficult to distinguish.
• Confirm that you started on the input for Dependents or the formula for Precedents. Those are opposite directions.
• Check for a hard-coded number: a formula such as =B3*12 contains no reference to the price cell for tracing to reveal.
• Keep this first test on one sheet. Cross-workbook, indirect or otherwise complex reference tracing is outside the verified scope of these sources.
• A correct-looking total can hide two offsetting errors. Check each monthly amount and perturb one input at a time in a copy.

Do not replace correct formulas with fixed totals to hide the mismatch. Preserve the relationship so later price or unit changes recalculate correctly, then save and reopen the workbook and compare the benchmark values again.

Version and testing scope

This guide follows the cited WPS desktop documentation. The exact installed build and free-versus-paid availability were not verified. It was not tested in WPS Spreadsheet; expected values were checked independently, and no application screenshots are claimed. Desktop controls do not establish Android or Web parity. Test your actual edition with the small sample before applying the procedure to an important workbook.