I am trying to figure out how to reference just one area of a named formula and return it as an array. This is so I can then count the number of rows in the areas referenced and eventually sum them. I going to eventually integrate the results of this into a pretty complicated mess of other formulas that automatically join and rank multiple matrices. I am trying to do this using formulas, not VBA, as a portability requirement. Some folks are a bit weary about running other folks code...
For now, though, I've come up with a simple example. Let's pretend that in the name manager we have a formula named Letters that is defined as:
=A1:A4,C1:C6
The range A1:A4 contains the letters "A" through ."D" and the range C1:C6 contains the letters "E" through "J".
If I write a simple INDEX formula I can return the first or second area of Letters like so:
=INDEX(Letters,,,1)
=INDEX(Letters,,,2)
I know this works by doing an F9 in on the formula and it returns the expected array of letters ({"A";"B";"C";"D"} or {"E";"F";"G";"H";"I";"J"}) for the appropriate area. But doing it this way makes the assumption that there will always be two areas in Letters. I'd like to keep my formula dynamic in case I was to add another area. I can create another formula named Letters_Areas and make it equal to the following:
=ROW(INDEX(Sheet1!$A:$A,1):INDEX(Sheet1!$A:$A,AREAS(Letters)))
This will return an array with the value of {1;2} for the example (or more if there was more areas) and I can pass that to an IF to loop like so:
=IF(Letters_Areas,INDEX(Letters,,,Letters_Areas)
But that doesn't work. It always returns just the first area in Letters because Letters_Areas in the second argument of the IF always returns 1 as the value, not the first and then second value of the array. I guess my question in a formula is:
=IF(Letters_Areas,INDEX(Letters,,,What_Do_I_Put_Here))
Where What_Do_I_Put_Here counts up for each iteration of the IF like a For loop would in VBA. Essentially, I need to be able to get i in my For i = 1 to 2 in this case inside the IF.
I know that the failure is the Letters_Areas in the second argument of the IF because I can test it. At first glance you would just do it as such:
=IF(Letters_Areas,Letters_Areas)
This returns the expected {1,2}. However, this is misleading because you can find the true behavior by doing this:
=IF(Letters_Areas,INDEX(Letters_Areas,Letters_Areas))
And this always returns {1,1} which tells me that is the part that is failing.
The final version of the formula, minus the part I cannot figure out should look something like:
=IF(Letters_Areas,ROWS(INDEX(Letters,,,What_Do_I_Put_Here)))
And in our test example this would return {4;6}. Again, stuck using no VBA. Any ideas?
Could you use this formula to count areas, assuming that your areas always begin in row 1 as in your example: COLUMNS(A1:Z1)-(SUM(IF(ISBLANK(A1:Z1),1,0)))? Any non-blank cells within that range will be counted as an area and will give the correct count. I am not sure if this is what you are seeking according to your question.
Related
Title says it all pretty much, So in the image the sum looks for the first entry as it has "mr human" in the cell next to it but when i try to designate my critera range for a single cell i get #value returned, I can solve this by entering "mr human" into all the adjacent cells however to sheet I am pulling the data from has is formatted like It is shown so it would be ideal If i didnt have to make a copy then do that as this can be for several hundred "mr & Ms/miss"
Thanks for any help in advance!
First of all, I would say that you should indeed consider using a different model data for this, as suggested by #ScottCraner.
Second, this solution may work, but if you have a lot of sets (when i mean sets, i mean Mr Human, Miss Human, Kid Human, Grandp Human, and many more) it can be kind of annoying.
Now, first thing you must do is creating named ranges of each set of data. So the values related to Mr Human will be namedMR_HUMAN and values of Miss Human will be named MISS_HUMAN. It's easy to do.
Remember:
Names can't have blanks, spaces, or any weird char. Just use underscore.
Each name must be unique
Each name must contain 2 columns: first one is Code and Second one Cost.
A video example (type the name and press ENTER
Now the formula for column C:
=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(B3;CHOOSE(MATCH($A$3;{"Mr Human";"Miss Human"};0);MR_HUMAN;MISS_HUMAN);2;FALSE);"Not found")
You can see below that if I change cell A3 to Miss Human, values change properly:
This is how the formula works:
MATCH($A$3;{"Mr Human";"Miss Human"};0) This will search the text in A3 into the array of sets and will return a number according to position. In this case, Mr Human=1 and Miss Human=2
CHOOSE(*number from step 1*;MR_HUMAN;MISS_HUMAN) We use the number obtained in step 1 to combine with function CHOOSE, which allows to select a result based on a list. So we can use this function to relate number 1 to name MR_HUMAN and number 2 to MISS_HUMAN and it will return our target range with right values.
VLOOKUP(B3;*name from step 2*;2;FALSE) We combine the range from previous step and use it as matrix of a normal VLOOKUP, that will search the CODE in first column, and will return the value from second one (COST)
We trap all above inside an IFERROR, just to avoid VLOOKUP returning an error (error in VLOOKUP means that CODE is not found in that range).
The big issue here is that if you got a lot of datasets for more values, besides Mr Human and Miss Human, you need to adjust the MATCH and CHOOSE part, and can be annoying.
Anyways, hope this helps a little bit.
VLOOKUP
function
IFERROR
function
MATCH
function
CHOOSE
function
Also, consider using a different data model and the resume data using Pivot Tables.
I have been trying to make a form for some of my team members who are not that computer literate, and I essentially want to make it click and go. I thought I could do it...but alas I am not as good with nesting functions as I thought I was.
I have this spreadsheet where I want to put data into the yellow cell. On the next sheet I have the below table. What I want to do is use a formula to fill H4 with the "Request Branch's" Account Number. Now, I have currently filled the cells with information. They, in fact, have drop down options - which are pulled from the Account List table. As a result the value in H4 will continually change based on the needs of the user - but must be within the confines of the Account List Table.
What I have tried is here and enter link description here. I keep getting result of #Value, or N/A. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I know that I need to nest the SUMIFS withing VLookUp, but I am not sure as to why it won't work.
I'm providing you with two possible solutions.
1) The first one uses the SUMPRODUCT function. You may not have seen this kind of notation before.
When ranges are multiplied by each other like so (B3:B8=G3)*(C3:C8=G4) they are actually turned into boolean arguments. If you highlighted this part of the code and pressed F9 it would look like this: {0;0;0;0;1;0;0}. This is an array where TRUE for both criteria meet. So our Branch is "A" and our Carrier is "F". In the rest of the cases either or both are false resulting in zeroes.
Now if you multiply this array by the range with account numbers, obviously the only number remaining will be the one multiplied by 1 and so you have the answer however keep in mind that as you are multiplying if the account is not a number the function will fail!
2) This is why we have a second method using =INDEX() and =MATCH() functions.
To overly simplify this - the INDEX function grabs contents from an array at a specified position (row and column), while the MATCH function gets the position of an item in an array.
The idea with using ranges as multiple criteria is the same as in the first example, however this time when we get our array of zeroes and ones {0;0;0;0;1;0;0} we use the match function to find at which position our criteria cross (as seen on the screenshot it's the 5th position, as it's in the 5th row of the entire column D, the match function searches the {0;0;0;0;1;0;0} array for a 1 and returns its position in the array) and so this is our ROW.
Knowing the position of the contents we searched for we use the INDEX function to grab the contents of the cell in that position so =INDEX(D2:D8,MATCH(1, INDEX((B2:B8=G3)*(C2:C8=G4),0),0)) is actually =INDEX(D2:D8, 5) meaning that the INDEX function grabs contents of the 5th row from the range D2:D8 which is cell D6.
The green boxes are just there to show the instance where both of our criteria are met (cross).
Please try this formula.
=INDEX(Table1[Account],SUMPRODUCT((Table1[Branch]=F$3)*(Table1[Carrier]=F$4)*ROW(Table1[Account]))-1)
Note that you may have to adjust the final -1. This is because the indexed table starts in row #2 and the SUMPRODUCT function returns a sheet row number. If your table would start in a different row the difference between the sheet row and table row would be larger. It must be adjusted here. Or you might work with sheet references (named ranges) and require no adjustment at all.
This pictures shows my table and formula's yield
I have used following formula to extract result from a table.
Its working perfectly fine but I am hoping to level up my understanding of Excel formulas.
The trouble is that I use IF in Excel way to often.
what I wanted to know is if its possible to use a different approach, something that can work similar to if but is perhaps more sophisticated.
=IF(OR(J2="08L",J2="08R"),IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(LEFT(I2,3),'SID separations'!$D$34,0)),"LAM",IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(LEFT(I2,3),'SID separations'!$D$35:$E$35,0)),"West",IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(LEFT(I2,3),'SID separations'!$D$36:$G$36,0)),"East",IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(LEFT(I2,3),'SID separations'!$D$37,0)),"SFD",NA())))),0)
I very much appreciate any help.
Now that there is an example, I think this is a good question. You've recognised that your formula is fairly messy and also can't be easily expanded if there are more routes.
The problem is that Excel is very good for searching for a value in a single row or column, but not as good for searching for a value in a block of data.
You can simplify this problem by creating an additional column that has each entire route in a single cell. You can do this just by concatenating values. In your example, use column H:
=B2&" "&C2&" "&D2&" "&E2&" "&F2&" "&G2
This will create a string with the entire route in a single cell. Spaces are added in between each part of the route to make sure you don't accidentally create a sequences of letters that matches part of another route. It doesn't matter if there are blank cells, there will just be some extra spaces at the end which doesn't matter. Fill this down the column to get the entire path for each route in a single cell.
Then, you can create a formula that tries to find the 3 letters anywhere in any of the full routes.
=INDEX($A$2:$A$5,MATCH("*"&left(I2,3)&"*",$H$2:$H$5,0))
This formula is basically a deconstructed vlookup. It determines where the 3 characters can be found in column H, then gives back the corresponding value from column A.
The MATCH function tries to find the left 3 characters of I2 in column H. The MATCH function normally tries to find a complete exact match (with the last parameter being equal to 0), but we can just add wildcards to the search value. The MATCH function then returns the index of the range where it was found. I.e., if it was found in the 2nd cell of the range H2:H5, it returns the number 2.
The INDEX function then just gets a value from a range based on an index. In this case, it will get the 2nd value from range A2:A5.
I am working on a statistical model where we use sumproduct to generate forecast values by multiplying coefficients in one table with variables in another. Right now it is being done manually and that is taking time. I would like to automate it but I'm not able to figure this out.
We are using concatenate to identify different rows to use for vlookup. The variable columns are the same in number for both tables. I need to multiply each variable cell respectively in both tables and sum them, hence sumproduct.
this is what I am trying to do
Forecast model 1 sales for product A in phones in USA = sumproduct([variables by year from table 1 for USA for phones], [Variables for USA phone product A model 1 from table 2] )
I hope someone can help me.
Proof of Concept
You will need to update the references to suit your spreadsheet table locations.
In cell E21 use the following and copy right and down as required:
=SUMPRODUCT(INDEX($G$3:$I$12,MATCH($B21&$A21&$C21,$A$3:$A$12,0),0),INDEX($F$15:$H$18,MATCH($A21&$C21&$D21&MID(E$20,16,1),$A$15:$A$18,0),0))
This process was simplified because you had a unique ID tag on each of the previous two tables that could be built from the information in the third table. If you ever get into double digit forecast models the MID() function part of the formula will need to be modified. The 16 in the mid function refers to the character location of the number in the forecast model sales header name in Table 3. As such you either need to keep that header format exactly the same or modify the position of the number in the MID() function.
UPDATE 1
Explanation of Formulas
The following formulas were used in this solution:
SUMPRODUCT
INDEX
MATCH
MID
Concatenate
I will start with the assumption that you already understand sumproduct() as you were already using it before you ran into your problem. One thing to note about sumproduct is that it causes array like calculation to occur on the portion within it brackets. In this case we fed it two ranges of equal size. The difficult part was more an issue of determining those ranges.
Using your ID columns as a lookup row we used the match() function to determine which row to use. For the first set of variables we used the following to determine which row to look in:
=MATCH($B21&$A21&$C21,$A$3:$A$12,0)
Match is made up of three arguments inside the brackets:
MATCH(what to look for, where to look, type of match)
What we need to look for in table is a concatenation of various cells in Table 3 to build the ID in Table 1. It could have been written using the full formula:
=CONCATENATE($B21,$A21,$C21)
but the short form using & was used instead:
=$B21&$A21&$C21
Once we had what to look for we needed the range of where to look and supplied the ID column from table 1:
$A$3:$A$12
This now leaves the third and final argument of what type of search to perform. An exact match seemed to be the most appropriate match to perform so the value of 0 was supplied. What match returns is the row within the supplied range. It is relative to the range supplied and not the actual row in the spreadsheet. If it cannot make a match it will return an error instead of a row number.
Now that we know what row we want, we can use this information with the INDEX() function. The INDEX() function is made up of 3 arguments as well with the third argument being optional depending on if a 1D or 2D range is being indexed:
INDEX(Range to work with, 2D Row or 1D Position reference, 2D Column reference)
IN the case we are dealing with for the first table, the range to work with was your list of variables:
$G$3:$I$12
This is a 2D range. As such we need to tell INDEX() both what Row to look in as well as which Columns to look in. For the row to look in, we used the previously discussed MATCH() function. Since we want all columns and not just a specific column we use the value of 0. If Match returns an error, or if a number greater than the number of rows or columns selected is supplied, INDEX() will return an error. Based on the information discussed, the index function would look like:
=INDEX($G$3:$I$12,MATCH($B21&$A21&$C21,$A$3:$A$12,0),0)
You can try entering the above in a cell but it will give you an error. if you select three adjacent cells in the same row and use CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER when entering the formula, Excel will add {} around the formula and it will be an array formula and should show you the three variables being used.
The same process as described above can be used for determining the second range of variable from Table 2. The only difference here is that the forecast model number was not in a column of its own but instead in the header row surrounded by text. As such the MID() function needed to be used to go into the header row, bypass the surrounding text and pull the model number out so it could be used as part of the CONCATENATION() used for the "what to look for" in MATCH():
=MID(E$20,16,1)
The MID() function work again with three arguments:
MID(Text to look in, which character to start at, how many characters to pull)
So in this case we are looking at the header in E20. Note the lock $ on the row number so the formula is always looking in row 20 no matter how far down it gets copied. It is then going to the 16th character. In this case the character "1" and pulling 1 character. If the header had just been 1 and 2, there would be no need for the MID function and the cell (with proper lock) could have been used.
I'm currently using this expression to check if a cell contains at least one of a set of strings:
A B
1 abcd =ISNUMBER(SEARCH({"a","x"},A1))
B1 will return true here. However if I change the order of the array as follows it returns false:
A B
1 abcd =ISNUMBER(SEARCH({"x","a"},A1))
Why is that? Is there a better way to do this that's more elegant than using a bunch of OR()'s?
Say we have text in A1 and we also have a list of sub-strings in column C. These can be either single or multiple character substrings. We assign the Name - KeyStrings to the list of cells in column C
We want to know if any of the substrings is present in A1.
Enter the following in B1:
=NOT(LEN(TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A1,INDEX(KeyStrings,SUMPRODUCT(ROW(KeyStrings)*ISNUMBER(SEARCH(KeyStrings,A1)))),"")))=LEN(A1))
The formula will report True if any of the substrings in column C can be found in A1
Just for completeness, the answer to the original question "Why is that?" i.e. why does the result seem to be sensitive to the order of the strings in curly brackets is that the formula
=ISNUMBER(SEARCH({"a","x"},A1))
only looks at at the first string "a" because there is nothing to make it operate like an array formula and step through all the values "a","x" etc.
The usual procedure is to wrap the function in an aggregate function like SUM. If you do this you also have to add minus signs to make the TRUE/FALSE values from ISNUMBER behave as ones and zeroes and further wrap in SUMPRODUCT or enter it as an array formula to make it work:-
=SUMPRODUCT(SUM(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH({"a","x"},A1))))
Even then it gives a numeric result which is not what you actually want.
# Dirk Reichel's idea is therefore much better giving you:-
=OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH({"a","x"},A1)))
which works very nicely and incidentally doesn't need to be entered as an array formula.
I think since you have put a curly bracket there, it indicates an array search. (I am not an expert with arrays, so following is an educated guess).
What Excel is doing is in the first example, it is finding "a" in position no 1, so it is returning the no 1 to ISNUMBER function, which is TRUE. (Basically, compares "a" to a in abcd which is position 1, and doesn't find/look for[?] "x". Returns 1 for the "a", which is TRUE for ISNUMBER function)
In the 2nd code, "x" is compared to a from abcd, which returns a non-numeric value (and doesn't find/look for[?] "a"), hence it is FALSE.
PS:
what I mean by Excel doesn't find/look for[?] the second or any element there on, seems to be based on how arrays and formulae are coded in. In the curly brackets, commas separate "columns" and semi-colons separate "rows". So you are entering a 2 column/1row array inside a search function. While there is nothing wrong with that, the SEARCH function itself may not be coded to look for any element in the array apart from the one in position [1,1]. Someone better informed with the inner workings of SEARCH function should confirm this answer. (If it is a completely wrong educated guess, I wouldn't mind taking it off)