Excel BI - Excel Challenge 748

excel-challenges
excel-formulas
🔰 Produce the given diamond of numbers as shown
Published

March 24, 2026

Illustration for Excel BI - Excel Challenge 748

Challenge Description

🔰 Produce the given diamond of numbers as shown

Solutions

library(tidyverse)
library(readxl)

path = "Excel/700-799/748/748 Diamond.xlsx"
test  = read_excel(path, range = "B2:R18", col_names = FALSE) %>% as.matrix()

n = 9
s = 2*n - 1
m = outer(1:s, 
           1:s, 
           function(i, j) ifelse((d = abs(i - n) + abs(j - n)) < n, n - d, NA_integer_))

all(m == test, na.rm = TRUE)
# > [1] TRUE
  • Logic: Read the workbook ranges needed for the challenge; Apply the business rule conditions explicitly.
  • Strengths: The code maps the workbook rule into a compact, reproducible pipeline.
  • Areas for Improvement: The solution assumes the workbook layout and selected ranges remain stable, so any structural change in the sheet would require small adjustments.
  • Gem: The elegant part is how little code is needed once the correct intermediate representation is chosen.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

path = "700-799/748/748 Diamond.xlsx"
test = pd.read_excel(path, header=None, skiprows=1, nrows=17, usecols="B:R").to_numpy()

n = 9
y, x = np.ogrid[:2*n-1, :2*n-1]
m = np.where(np.abs(y-n+1) + np.abs(x-n+1) < n, n - (np.abs(y-n+1) + np.abs(x-n+1)), np.nan)
        
print(np.allclose(test, m, equal_nan=True))

The Python version mirrors the same workbook logic with a concise, direct implementation.

Difficulty Level

Easy / Medium

The business rule is clear, though the workbook still needs a few transformation steps to reach the expected output.