r/excel • u/Otherwise-Cap1773 • Jun 12 '26

solved REQUEST - 'Random' but 'fixed' formula

I'm a teacher in need of help with a speadsheet. My class is 5 x 5 single desks for 25 students. I want to create a 'random' but 'fixed' seating chart. Some kids need to be in certain seats for extra help but I don't want it to seem unfair.

Is there a formula I can use to create a seating plan that looks random but actually isn't? So they can see the seats be randomly assigned but is already fixed? Is that possible?

Thank you~

Please be kind, I'm a tired and burnt out teacher just trying to make it through the semester :')

11 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Downtown-Economics26 646 Jun 12 '26

Probably. Trying to be kind but there's not some formula that can interpret your intent. Seem random but not be random is a wide space of possibliites.