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The goal is to find the longest text string in the range B5:B16. At the core, this is a lookup problem that requires creating a value (the string length) that does not exist in the data as part of the formula. The easiest way to solve this problem is with the ...Read more

In this example, the goal is to calculate an average of the quiz scores in columns C, D, E, and F for each person. However, the result needs to ignore any zeros that appear in the data. This formula can be easily solved with the AVERAGEIF function...Read more

The goal of this example is to test each cell in B5:B14 to see if it contains any of the strings in the named range things (E5:E7). These strings can appear anywhere in the cell, so this is a literal "contains" problem. The...Read more

Note: this formula uses the named range "data" (B5:E104) for readability and convenience. If you don't want to use a named range, substitute $B$5:$E$104 instead.

To pull a random value out of a list or table, we'll need a random row number. For that, we'll use the RANDBETWEEN...Read more

In this example, the goal is to average the last n columns in a set of data, where n is a variable entered in cell K5 that can be changed at any time. Since more data may be added, a key requirement is to average amounts by position....Read more

Consider a simple dynamic reference to Sheet2 using the INDIRECT in a formula like this:

=INDIRECT($B$5&"!"&"A1")

If we change the sheet name in B5 to another (valid) name, INDIRECT will return a reference to A1 in the new sheet....Read more

Note: in more recent versions of Excel, the FILTER function is a better way to solve this problem. The INDEX and MATCH formula explained here is meant for legacy versions of Excel that do not provide the FILTER...Read more

The RANDBETWEEN function takes two numbers, a bottom and top number, and generates a random integer in between. Dates in Excel are serial numbers, so you can use the DATE function to create the lower number and the upper number. RANDBETWEEN then generates a number that falls between these two...Read more

In this example, the goal is to extract the numbers from a set of property listings which describe the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the size of the house in sq. ft., and the size of the lot in acres. Traditionally, this kind of problem has been quite difficult in Excel because each number...Read more

About the #N/A error

The #N/A error appears when something can't be found or identified. It is often a useful error, because it tells you something important is missing – a product not yet available, an employee name misspelled, a color option that doesn't exist, etc.

However...Read more

The goal in this example is to return the minimum value that is unique, i.e. the minimum value that occurs only once in the data.

The UNIQUE function, new in Excel 365, will return a unique list of values from a set of data. By default, this is a list of...Read more

Note: the core idea of this formula is adapted from an example in Mike Girvin's excellent book Control+Shift+Enter.

The example shown uses several...Read more

In this example, the goal is to filter data based on multiple criteria with the FILTER function. Specifically, we want to select data where (1) the group = "A" and (2) the Score is greater than 80. At first glance, it's not obvious how to do this with the FILTER function. Unlike older...Read more

Working from the inside out, the formula first joins the values the 5 cells to the left using the concatenation operator (...Read more

In this example, the goal is to average a list of values that may contain errors. The values to average are in the named range data (B5:B15). Normally, you can use the AVERAGE function to...Read more

Note: in the current version of Excel, the FILTER function is a better way to solve this problem. The INDEX and MATCH formula explained here is meant for legacy versions of Excel that do not provide the FILTER...Read more

In this example, the goal is to create a running count for a specific value that appears in column B. The value to count is entered in cell E5, which is the named range value. The core of the solution explained below is the...Read more

In this example, the goal is to sum the Amounts in C5:C16 when the Lead in D5:D16 is not blank (i.e., not empty). A good way to solve this problem is to use the SUMIFS function. However, you can also use the ...Read more

At the core, this formula uses the WEEKDAY function to test a number of dates to see if they land on a given day of week (dow) and the SUMPRODUCT function to tally up the total.

When given a date,...Read more

This formula uses the FILTER function to retrieve data based on a logical test constructed with the LARGE function.

The LARGE function is a simple way to get the nth largest value in a range. Simply provide a range for the first argument (array...Read more

In the example shown, we have a list of amounts by month. The goal is to dynamically sum values through a given number of months using a variable n in cell E5. Since month names are just text, and months are listed in order, the key requirement is to sum amounts...Read more

In this example, the goal is to retrieve employee information from a table using only a partial match on the last name. In other words, by typing "Aya" into cell H4, the formula should retrieve information about Michael Ayala.

The VLOOKUP function...Read more

Although FILTER is commonly used to filter rows, you can also filter columns. The trick is to use an include argument that operates on columns instead of rows. In this example, we use a hard-coded array constant to filter out unwanted columns, but...Read more