Is it possible to force a formula's cell reference to not change?
For example if I had
=B1
in cell G1, and then inserted a column at column A.
I thought
=$B$1
may do it, but sadly not.
Use INDEX:
=INDEX($1:$1048576,1,2)
The 1 is the row and the 2 is the column. The $1:$1048576 includes the whole sheet.
If you want to lock a range, like Sum(B1:B4) you can use this:
=SUM(INDEX($1:$1048576,1,2):INDEX($1:$1048576,4,2))
This will now always return the Sum of the range in B1:B4 and not move off that range no matter how many columns are added or removed.
Related
So, for example: My selection is A1:E1 That are five cells. is it possible to let excel determine this by setting a cell value (like A2) to 5.
It for the purpose of easily changes a lot of ranges with one change in a cell value. So if I would change the cell value (A2) to 6. The range would automatically change to A1:F6
Could somebody help me???
Try this formula
="=A1:"&ADDRESS(A2,A2,4)
Adding to my comment you can use INDEX to return the range you're after.
This will use B1 to determine the last cell in the range.
=$A$1:INDEX($1:$1,,$B$1)
This will then sum the values in that range:
=SUM($A$1:INDEX($1:$1,,$B$1))
I wish to check if a cell in say column A is empty and if it is then move the data from the next column B into it. Else nothing done.
I wish it to check 1500 rows. I tried
If(A2="",A2=B2,"") I thought I could just copy it down the column. I get a circular error reference and also then cellA2 changes to 0.
Thank you for your help.
Is this a one-time task, merging two columns of data, or something that needs to be run repeatedly?
Your formula won't work (partly) because you can't have a cell that contains both a value and a formula (to check that value), at the same time.
You could, however have a 3rd column that equals Column A, unless Column A is blank, in which case it looks at Column B.
With your example, in cell C2 you could put:
=If(A2="",B2,A2)
With your formula above, you're trying assign a value to A2 with A2=B2. Excel formulas in cells assign values to "themselves" and cannot directly affect other cells.
A formula in A2 can only affect the A2. (However, the value of a cell can indirectly affect other cells with the help of VBA or features like Conditional Formatting.)
The reason your If statement isn't giving you an error with A2=B2 is because that statement A2=B2 is comparing the value of cell A2 to B2 and returning TRUE if the cells match, and FALSE if they do not (so will always return FALSE in this case).
I probably didn't word that title correctly, so let me explain what I'm trying to do.
I need to find cycles in a series of data. So let’s say I have all of my data in column A of an Excel spreadsheet. If a condition that I’m looking for is true in, say, cell A7, I want to check to check if it’s true in every second cell (A9, A11, A13 and so forth). If it’s not true in every second cell, I want to adjust the model to check every third cell starting with that A7 cell (A10, A13, A16, and so on). If the condition is not true in every third cell, then I want to check every fourth cell (A11, A15, A19, etc.).
Programming the formula to check if the condition is true should be somewhat easy using either IF or AND formulas. My problem is how do I change the model to switch from every second cell to every third cell, and then run it to check every fourth cell, and so on. I’d like to, say, set up the formulas in column B and have cell C1 be a user input that determines which cells are used in the formulas in column B. Is there a way to do this?
Example: if cell C1 says “2”, then the formulas in column B check every other cell in column A, and if I change the value in cell C1 from “2” to “3”, then the formulas in column B switch from checking every second cell to checking every third cell and report back to me.
I could just manually change the cell references in the formulas in column B, but that could take bloody ages and I figure there’s got to be a better way.
So I’m looking to make the cell references ‘variable’ in a sense. Instead of hardcoding the cell references and saying “look at cell A7, then look at cell A9, then look at cell A11…” I want to tell Excel “look at A7, then the next cell you look at is dependent upon what I say in cell C1.”
The image below shows my setup:
I have simple data in column A. Column B determines whether the formula in C should be evaluated. For example, B2 contains the following formula:
=IF(MOD(ROW(A2),$D$2)=0,1,0)
Column C would contain the logic you want to apply. In this case, I return the data in A if B is 1; otherwise, I return "":
=IF(B2=1,A2,"")
Column D determines the number of rows to skip.
If you want just one column, this formula would go in B1 and you can drag it down. Update the $A$1:$A$20 range to include your entire range. This formula will check whether the previous cell in your cycle (every 2,3,4,etc) matches.
=IF(AND(ROW()>$C$1,MOD(ROW(),$C$1)=0),INDEX($A$1:$A$20,ROW()-$C$1)=$A1,"")
Do not use INDIRECT...ever.
I am trying to display the total sum of all the numbers for a particular column. I want the sum to be displayed above the column as follows:
21 30
A B
6 5
6 10
6 10
3 5
I know I can sum the values and display it at the bottom of the column using =SUM(A3:INDIRECT("D"&ROW()-2)), however I am not getting a way to display it at the top of the column.
Please guide.
Based on the comments and the previous answers I suggest following formula, entered in cell A1:
=SUM(OFFSET(A$2,0,0,ROWS(b:b)-1))
You can then copy/paste to the right till second last column.
You could also modify your formula in A1 like this to achieve the same:
=SUM(INDIRECT("A2:A"&ROWS(A:A)-2))
But then you cannot copy/paste to the right...
A more general approach with your idea would be:
=SUM(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW()+1,COLUMN())&":"&ADDRESS(ROWS(A:A),COLUMN())))
You can then copy/paste to the right till last column.
Some explanations:
Both formula sums up every value in the range from A2 till the bottom of column A (i.e. for Excel 2010 this would be A2:A1048576)
It doesn't matter if there are blanks or cells without value; the formula sums up only the numbers
I put A$2 and B:B in the OFFSET formula to avoid circular references, since I'm writing in cell A1 and I cannot write A$1 nor A:A
With the INDIRECT formula you don't have to worry about circular references
Further commenting (sorry, I don't have the credits to comment at the right place under the question):
Phylogenesis formula =SUM(A3:A65535) could also do the work, isn't it?
Didn't understand your question at first, because you talk of "sum of all the numbers for a particular row" but then you sum columns, isn't it?
When I'm doing something like this, I prefer to not include any empty cells beneath the range I'm summing, because I've had errors in the past as the result of including them (usually because there's a cell way down in the column somewhere that I'm not expecting to have a value). I'm assuming that A & B are your column headers. Assuming that, here is how I would do it. This is your formula for cell A1:
=SUM(OFFSET(A$1,2,0,COUNTA(A$3:A$65535)))
Explanation
I'm updating this with a brief explanation, per the OP's request.
According to ExcelFunctions.net:
The Excel Offset function returns range of cells that is a specified number of rows and columns from an initial supplied range.
The function reference for OFFSET is:
=OFFSET(reference, rows, cols, [height], [width])
What this formula does is create a dynamic range based on the number of cells in the selection, relative to cell A$1. This is an offset of two rows and no columns, which starts the range at A$3. The height of the range is the total number of filled cells in the range A$3:A$65535. The assumption here is that there are no blank cells in the range, which there were not in the sample data.
My question is how can I find an intersecting cell of a specific column and row number?
My situation is this: with some calculations I find two cells, lets say B6 and E1. I know that I need a row of the first one and a column of the second one. So I could just use ROW and COLUMN functions to get the numbers. After that, I need to find an intersecting cell. Which would be E6 in this example.
I would just use INDEX(A1:Z100;ROW;COLUMN) but I don't know the exact area that I'm going to need - it depends on other stuff. I could use something like A1:XFG65000 but that is way too lame. I could also use a combination of INDIRECT(ADDRESS()) but I'm pulling data from a closed workbook so INDIRECT will not work.
If this would help to know what is this all for - here's a concrete example:
I need to find limits of a section of a sheet that I would work with. I know that it starts from the column B and goes all the way down to the last non-empty cell in this column. This range ends with a last column that has any value in first row. So to define it - I need to find the intersection of this last column and the last row with values in B column.
I use this array formula to find the last column:
INDEX(1:1;MAX((1:1<>"")*(COLUMN(1:1))))
And this array formula to find the last row:
INDEX(B:B;MAX((B:B<>"")*(ROW(B:B)))
Last column results in E1 and last row results in B6. Now I need to define my range as B1:E6, how can I get E6 out of this all to put into the resulting formula? I've been thinking for a while now and not being and Excel expert - I couldn't come up with anything. So any help would really be appreciated. Thanks!
You can use an Index/Match combination and use the Match to find the relevant cell. Use one Match() for the row and one Match() for the column.
The index/match function to find the last cell in a sheet where
column B is the leftmost table column
row 1 is the topmost table row
data in column B and in row 1 can be a mix of text and numbers
there can be empty cells in column B and row 1
the last populated cell in column B marks the last row of the table
the last populated cell in row 1 marks the last column of the table
With these premises, the following will return correct results, used in a Sum() with A1 as the starting cell and Index to return the lower right cell of the range:
=SUM(A1:INDEX(1:1048576,MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99,B:B,1),0),IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz",B:B,1),0)),MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99,1:1,1),0),IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz",1:1,1),0))))
Since you seem to be on a system with the semicolon as the list delimiter, here is the formula with semicolons:
=SUM(A1:INDEX(1:1048576;MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99;B:B;1);0);IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz";B:B;1);0));MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99;1:1;1);0);IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz";1:1;1);0))))
Offset would seem to be the way to go
=OFFSET($A$1,ROW(CELL1)-1,COLUMN(CELL2)-1)
(The -1 is needed because we already have 1 column and 1 row in A1)
in your example, =OFFSET($A$1,ROW(B6)-1,COLUMN(E1)-1) would give the value in E6
There is also ADDRESSS if you want the location: =ADDRESS(ROW(B6),COLUMN(E1)) gives the answer $E$6
The following webpage has a much easier solution, and it seems to work.
https://trumpexcel.com/intersect-operator-in-excel/
For example, in a cell, type simply: =C:C 6:6. Be sure to include one space between the column designation and the row designation. The result in your cell will be the value of cell C6. Of course, you can use more limited ranges, such as =C2:C13 B5:D5 (as shown on the webpage).
As I was searching for the answer to the same basic question, it astounded me that there is no INTERSECT worksheet function in Excel. There is an INTERSECT feature in VBA (I think), but not a worksheet function.
Anyway, the simple spacing method shown above seems to work, at least in straightforward cases.