WPS Office

Free All-in-One Office Suite with PDF Editor

correct-icon

Edit Word, Excel, and PPT for FREE.

correct-icon

Read, edit, and convert PDFs with the powerful PDF toolkit.

correct-icon

Microsoft-like interface, easy to use.

Free download

Windows • MacOS • Linux • iOS • Android

banner

How to use goal seek in excel for multiple cells

July 26, 2022
17.7K Views

If you are aware of the output you need from a formula, Excel's Goal Seek feature can help you locate the input value that causes this output.

How to use goal seek in excel online, 2016 and 2019:

To determine the exam grade that results in a final grade of 70, use Goal Seek in Excel.

The final grade is calculated using the algorithm in cell B7.

The input cell is cell B5, which contains the result of the fourth exam.

Click What-If Analysis under the Forecast category on the Data tab.

Click on goal seek.

The dialogue window for Goal Seek appears. Select cell B7.Type 70 in the To value box by clicking there.Select cell B5 by clicking on the By changing cell box.Click on ok.

Result. A final grade of 70 is generated from a fourth exam grade of 90.

Goal seek in excel using example 2:To determine the loan amount that results in a $1500 monthly payment, use Goal Seek in Excel.The monthly payment is calculated using the formula in cell B5.

Reason: The PMT function determines how much a loan will cost. It's okay if this is a function you are unfamiliar with. The monthly payment increases as the loan amount does. Let's say your monthly budget is only $1500. How much may you borrow at most?Cell B3 in the input is the loan amount.

Click What-If Analysis under the Forecast category on the Data tab.

Click on goal seek.

The dialogue window for Goal Seek appears.Select cell B5.Type -1500 in the To value box after clicking (negative, you are paying out money).Select cell B3 by clicking on the By changing cell box.Click on ok.

Result. A loan of $250,187 results in a $1,500 monthly payment.

Goal seek precision:Goal seek returns approximations of the answers. To obtain a more accurate solution, you can modify Excel's iteration settings.The square of the value in cell A1 is calculated using the formula in cell B1.

To determine the input value that results in a formula result of 25, use goal seek.

Result. Excel provides a rough answer.

Click Formulas under Options on the File tab.Reduce the Maximum Change value under Calculation Options by adding a few zeros. The initial setting is 0.001.

Click on ok.Use Goal Seek once more. Excel provides a more accurate answer.Note: This above written article was an attempt to show you how to use goal seek in excel online, 2016 and 2019 in both windows and mac.You just need to have a little understanding of how and which way things work. With having this basic knowledge or information of how to use it, you can also access and use different other options on excel or spreadsheet. Also, it is very similar to Word or Document. So, in a way, if you learn one thing, like Excel, you can automatically learn how to use Word as well because both of them are very similar in so many ways. If you want to know more about WPS Office, you can download WPS Office to access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint for free.                                  

15 years of office industry experience, tech lover and copywriter. Follow me for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations for new apps and software.