Find what cell another cell is referencing - excel

I want to know what column a cell is referring to. Based on the cell it refers to, a different formula will apply.
example:
A B C D E F G
HIGH LOW Choice Gaude
Terry 20 50 50 LOW
Tom 40 1212 1212 LOW
James 101010 121 101010 HIGH
Serra 5 5 HIGH
Sam 50 50 50 LOW
cell E formula
=c2
=c3
=b4
=b5
=b6
cell G formula
=IF(F8=D8,"LOW","HIGH")
The problem is that Sam is meant to be High.
I hope my example helps you understand my predicament.


Are you manually entering the formula in the Choice column E? Maybe it's better to make the Gaude column drive the Choice column instead:
Cell E formula
= If(Exact(G2, "HIGH"), B2, C2)
And instead of changing the referenced column in E, just change G cells to LOW or HIGH as you require.


If I read your quextion correctly, you want a formula that can analyse the formuala contained in another cell, and tell what column it refers to.
You will need a UDF for thism such as
Function WhatColumn(r1 As Range) As Variant
WhatColumn = Range(r1.Formula).Column
End Function
This will return a column number (2 for column B)
You would use this like
=IF(E8=2,"HIGH","LOW")
so if cell E8 contains =B8 WhatColumn will return 2

Related

Formula to get crossed values

I am trying to get values from other column, based on some logic, crossed logic, but I didn't get any result with the only thing I know: IF or VLOOKUP.
The table is in this way:
So basically there are groups divided by blank row, and in column D I want to add the value from column B, but according with other letter that the one from the row ( C is from Credit, D is from Debtor). So in first D5 I have C on the same row in A5, so I need to take value from D, which is 2, according to B6.
So sorry if this question is too easy or stupid, but I don't know much about excel formulas, other that the basic one.

I'd say the fastest way with formula takes two columns. The first one (let's say column C) will use this formula to define the blocks:
=IF(A5="",C4+1,IFERROR(C4+0,0))
It's meant for cell C5.
The second column will give back the actual result:
=SUMIFS(B:B,A:A,IF(A5="C","D",IF(A5="D","C","")),C:C,C5)
It's meant for cell D5.
Place them accordingly and drag them down to cover your list.
Then again: if you are looking just for the number and not for its sum (and therefore assuming all numbers are equal for each letter in each block), just use this one in cell D5 instead of the previous one:
=SUMIFS(B:B,A:A,IF(A5="C","D",IF(A5="D","C","")),C:C,C5)/COUNTIFS(A:A,IF(A5="C","D",IF(A5="D","C","")),C:C,C5)
Now if you were to use only IF and VLOOKUP functions, a possible solution could be this one:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Block index
0
What to search
What is
Value
Result
C
1
=IF(A5="",C4+1,C4)
=IF(A5="",C4+1,C4)&SE(A5="C","D",SE(A5="D","C",""))
=C5&A5
=B5
=IF(VLOOKUP(D5,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D5,E:F,2,FALSO))
D
2
=IF(A6="",C5+1,C5)
=IF(A6="",C5+1,C5)&SE(A6="C","D",SE(A6="D","C",""))
=C6&A6
=B6
=IF(VLOOKUP(D6,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D6,E:F,2,FALSO))
D
2
=IF(A7="",C6+1,C6)
=IF(A7="",C6+1,C6)&SE(A7="C","D",SE(A7="D","C",""))
=C7&A7
=B7
=IF(VLOOKUP(D7,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D7,E:F,2,FALSO))
=IF(A8="",C7+1,C7)
=IF(A8="",C7+1,C7)&SE(A8="C","D",SE(A8="D","C",""))
=C8&A8
=B8
=IF(VLOOKUP(D8,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D8,E:F,2,FALSO))
D
3
=IF(A9="",C8+1,C8)
=IF(A9="",C8+1,C8)&SE(A9="C","D",SE(A9="D","C",""))
=C9&A9
=B9
=IF(VLOOKUP(D9,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D9,E:F,2,FALSO))
C
4
=IF(A10="",C9+1,C9)
=IF(A10="",C9+1,C9)&SE(A10="C","D",SE(A10="D","C",""))
=C10&A10
=B10
=IF(VLOOKUP(D10,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D10,E:F,2,FALSO))
=IF(A11="",C10+1,C10)
=IF(A11="",C10+1,C10)&SE(A11="C","D",SE(A11="D","C",""))
=C11&A11
=B11
=IF(VLOOKUP(D11,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D11,E:F,2,FALSO))
D
2
=IF(A12="",C11+1,C11)
=IF(A12="",C11+1,C11)&SE(A12="C","D",SE(A12="D","C",""))
=C12&A12
=B12
=IF(VLOOKUP(D12,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D12,E:F,2,FALSO))
C
5
=IF(A13="",C12+1,C12)
=IF(A13="",C12+1,C12)&SE(A13="C","D",SE(A13="D","C",""))
=C13&A13
=B13
=IF(VLOOKUP(D13,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D13,E:F,2,FALSO))
C
5
=IF(A14="",C13+1,C13)
=IF(A14="",C13+1,C13)&SE(A14="C","D",SE(A14="D","C",""))
=C14&A14
=B14
=IF(VLOOKUP(D14,E:F,2,FALSO)=0,"",VLOOKUP(D14,E:F,2,FALSO))

Distributing students across classes based on marks

Name
Marks
Rank
Class
Eddie
20
6
C
Tom
10
10
A
Jenny
30
4
A
Riva
40
3
C
Andy
50
2
B
Mark
5
11
B
Sally
78
1
A
Jack
15
8
B
Dick
15
8
C
Harry
20
6
A
Dom
30
4
B
The students are expected to be distributed across classes A, B and C, based on their marks in the above picture.
The student with the highest marks goes in A. The one with the next highest goes in B. The next highest goes in C. The next goes again to A and so on.
What should be the formula to be used in Excel 2013 and above for calculating the Class?

Sort the table by either Marks descending or Rank ascending.
D2: =CHOOSE(MOD(ROWS($1:1)-1,3)+1,"A","B","C")

If you are using Excel 365, you can use the SORTBY function to solve the question.
Assume the Name column is in a named range called List_Name, the Marks column is in a named range called List_Marks, your example dataset is in range A1:D12, and you want to return the class code in column D.
In cell D2, enter any one of the following formulas and drag it down:
=CHOOSE(MOD(MATCH(A2,SORTBY(List_Name,List_Marks,-1),0),3)+1,"C","A","B")
Alternatively, you can use the following in cell D2 instead:
=INDEX({"C";"A";"B"},MOD(MATCH(A2,SORTBY(List_Name,List_Marks,-1),0),3)+1)
If you cannot use the SORTBY function, then the answer provided by Ron Rosenfeld should do the job quite well.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Assuming that the chart you provided is in cells A1-D11
Try making a 2x3 chart on the side (I’m using F2-G4 with 1...A 2...B 0...C
and then put the formula in D1 as follows: =vlookup(mod(C2,3),F2:G4, false)
You could even skip out the whole C column if you wanted, writing =vlookup(mod(rank(A2,B:B),3),F2:G4, false)
But then you might have an issue of 2 people going to the same class if they rank the same.

I am trying to find a formula that will allow me to calculate MAX/MIN without calculating anything after the current row

I want to use the Max/Min function to calculate the minimum number up to the current row, but not count anything after that row. See example below:
A B C
1 10 =MIN(A1:A1) I Want B1 to only count MIN from A1 to A1 from here, then
2 14 =MIN(A1:A2) from here I want B2 to count MIN from A1 to A2,
3 9 =MIN(A1:A3) Then A1 to A3,
4 6 =MIN(A1:A4) etc,
5 14 =MIN(A1:A5) etc.
I could go back and update each row manually, but I have over 700 rows that I want all this to apply to. Is there anyone who can help me with a solution to this problem?

Use this formula in B1, and copy downwards:
=MIN($A$1:$A1)
This is called maintaining referential integrity while writing any excel formula. It should give the desired result on copy towards right or downwards.

Find Cell Address

ColumnA Column B Column C
name sales index
A 1250 1875
B 5500 15000
C 4500 5625
F 12750 13125
B 7250 28125
F 2000 13875
E 9250 23625
F 39250 16875
A 2250 25500
B 7250 15750
A 8250 29250
B 16500 11625
C 500 804000
In the above table I want to find out the cell address when F has maximum sales. Can somebody help me with excel formula. e.g. in the above table the output will be B9

Try:
="B" & MATCH(MAX(IF(A:A="F",B:B)),IF(A:A="F",B:B),0)
This is an array formula and must be confirmed with Ctrl-Shift-Enter. This will return the address of the first max value for "F" if there are equal values that are the max.
Also as noted by #XORLX Change the whole column references to the actual data size or big enough to cover what is needed. This will speed up the calculation. With the Array formula it will iterate through the whole column twice. It will run over 2 million times.
Though the real question is for what purpose are you going to use the answer? If the end is to merely know the address then use the above.
But if not then there may be a way to get to the end in one step.

formula for finding the first non-empty cell

I have a spreadsheet with 2 columns of data, column A and B, and column C where I'm looking for the formula.
row A B C
1 50
2
3
4
5 56 6
6
7
8 46 10
9
10
11 64 18
As you can see, a row either contains a value or not. In column C, I'm looking to calculate the difference between
a) the value in column B and the value in column A's first non-empty cell directly above (so for example, at row 5, I calculate the difference between B5 and A1 56 - 50 = 6) if the value of B is a number and
b) the value in column A and the value in column B's first non-empty cell directly above (row 8, 56 - 46 = 10)
and put nothing if neither column A and B are empty.
I've been struggling with "first non-empty cell" to write an R1C1 formula. Note that I know I can do this in VBA but I'm looking for the R1C1 formula.
Thanks for your help.

Here is an array formula (that you need to validate with Ctrl + Shift + Enter) you can put in C1 and drag and drop till the end of your data:
=IF(OR(A1<>"",B1<>""),INDEX($B$1:B1,MAX(IF($B$1:B1="",0,ROW($B$1:B1))))-INDEX($A$1:A1,MAX(IF($A$1:A1="",0,ROW($A$1:A1)))),"")
Or, in a french version of Excel:
=SI(OU(A1<>"";B1<>"");INDEX($B$1:B1;MAX(SI($B$1:B1="";0;LIGNE($B$1:B1))))-INDEX($A$1:A1;MAX(SI($A$1:A1="";0;LIGNE($A$1:A1))));"")
Note that if you feel interested, you can commit into Stackoverflow in french

Perhaps try this formula in C2 copied down
=IF(B2="",IF(A2="","",LOOKUP(9.99E+307,B$1:B1)-A2),B2-LOOKUP(9.99E+307,A$1:A1))

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