Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania sit on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, sandwiched between Russia and Scandinavia. They regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and joined the EU in 2004. They can be modeled as rows in a spreadsheet.
Each has a distinct national identity, language, and history, yet they are often grouped together—not unlike how Excel groups cells into ranges. =SUM(BalticIndependence) returns 1991. =COUNTIF(EU_Members, "Baltic") returns 3.
A spreadsheet formula begins with an equals sign, declaring: "This cell's value depends on others." It establishes relationships between cells, just as treaties establish relationships between nations.
The formula above evaluates whether a country is both Baltic and gained independence after 1991. It returns a categorical judgment. Spreadsheet logic, like geopolitical logic, requires clear conditions and unambiguous outcomes.
SUM() / Union
- Aggregates values from a range
- Baltic GDP: =SUM(EST,LAT,LIT)
- Returns: $150.2 billion
AVERAGE() / Consensus
- Finds the central tendency
- Baltic avg: =AVERAGE(Pop)
- Returns: 2,033,881
VLOOKUP() / Diplomacy
- Retrieves data from tables
- Find: =VLOOKUP("Latvia",Info,3)
- Returns: Capital = Riga
CONCATENATE() / Alliance
- Joins text strings together
- =CONCAT(Baltic," States")
- Returns: "Baltic States"
Spreadsheet formulas and the Baltic States both represent structured approaches to complexity. Excel organizes data into rows and columns. History organized the Baltic peoples into nations. Both systems use references—cell addresses in one case, treaty articles in the other.
To understand the Baltics, construct a VLOOKUP. To understand VLOOKUP, imagine three small countries on the edge of a sea, each with a unique key, each containing data that can be retrieved if you know where to look.
=IF(You_Understand_This,"Congratulations","Keep Reading")