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Commonly Used Excel Formulas
Look Up Values in a List of Data:
Let's say you want to look up an employee's phone extension by using their badge number or the correct rate of a commission for a sales amount. You look up data to quickly and efficiently find specific data in a list and to automatically verify that you are using correct data. After you look up the data, you can perform calculations or display results with the values returned. There are several ways to look up values in a list of data and to display the results. There are two Lookup functions: VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP.
When to use what:
• Use VLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a column to the left of the data you want to find.
• Use HLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a row across the top of a table of data, and you want to look down a specified number of rows.
1. VLOOKUP (Look up values vertically in a list. It searches for a value in the first column of a table array and returns a value in the same row from another column in the table array.)
Syntax - VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup)
Sample - =VLOOKUP(1,A2:C10,2,True) OR =VLOOKUP(1,A2:C10,2,False)
Lookup_value (Required): The value to search in the first column of the table. Lookup_value can be a value or a reference. If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in the first column of table_array, VLOOKUP returns the #N/A error value.
Table_array (Required): Two or more columns of data. Use a reference to a range or a range name. The values in the first column of table_array are the values searched by lookup_value. These values can be text, numbers, or logical values. Uppercase and lowercase texts are equivalent. You cannot have duplicate values in the leftmost column of the lookup range. Page 2 of 15 MS Excel Advanced Formulas 9/7/2010:mms
Col_index_num (Required): The column number in table_array from which the matching value must be returned. A col_index_num of 1
Look Up Values in a List of Data:
Let's say you want to look up an employee's phone extension by using their badge number or the correct rate of a commission for a sales amount. You look up data to quickly and efficiently find specific data in a list and to automatically verify that you are using correct data. After you look up the data, you can perform calculations or display results with the values returned. There are several ways to look up values in a list of data and to display the results. There are two Lookup functions: VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP.
When to use what:
• Use VLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a column to the left of the data you want to find.
• Use HLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a row across the top of a table of data, and you want to look down a specified number of rows.
1. VLOOKUP (Look up values vertically in a list. It searches for a value in the first column of a table array and returns a value in the same row from another column in the table array.)
Syntax - VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup)
Sample - =VLOOKUP(1,A2:C10,2,True) OR =VLOOKUP(1,A2:C10,2,False)
Lookup_value (Required): The value to search in the first column of the table. Lookup_value can be a value or a reference. If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in the first column of table_array, VLOOKUP returns the #N/A error value.
Table_array (Required): Two or more columns of data. Use a reference to a range or a range name. The values in the first column of table_array are the values searched by lookup_value. These values can be text, numbers, or logical values. Uppercase and lowercase texts are equivalent. You cannot have duplicate values in the leftmost column of the lookup range. Page 2 of 15 MS Excel Advanced Formulas 9/7/2010:mms
Col_index_num (Required): The column number in table_array from which the matching value must be returned. A col_index_num of 1