Excel Function Dictionary 1998 - 2000 Peter Noneley A B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 C D E F G H I

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MATCH
Names Bob Alan David Carol Type a name to look for : Alan Type a value : Values 250 600 1000 4000 1000

The position of Alan is : 2 =MATCH(E9,E4:E7,0) What Does It Do ? This function looks for an item in a list and shows its position. It can be used with text and numbers. It can look for an exact match or an approximate match. Syntax =MATCH(WhatToLookFor,WhereToLook,TypeOfMatch) The TypeOfMatch either 0, 1 or -1.

Value position : 3 =MATCH(I9,I4:I7,1)

Using 0 will look for an exact match. If no match is found the #NA error will be shown. Using 1 will look for an exact match, or the next lowest number if no exact match exists. If there is no match or next lowest number the error #NA is shown. The list of values being examined must be sorted for this to work correctly. Using -1 will look for an exact match, or the next highest number if no exact match exists. If there is no exact match or next highest number the error #NA is shown. The list must be sorted for this to work properly. Examples 1 Using the 0 option suitable for an exact match. The Ascending list gives the exact match. The Descending list gives the exact match. The Wrong Value list cannot find an exact match, so the #NA is shown. Ascending 10 20 30 40 20 2 Descending 40 30 20 10 20 3 =MATCH(G45,G40:G43,0) Wrong Value 10 20 30 40 25 #N/A

Example 2

Excel Function Dictionary 1998 - 2000 Peter Noneley A B C D E F G H Using the 1 option suitable for a ascending list to find an exact or next lowest match. The Ascending list gives the exact match. The Descending list gives the #NA error. The Wrong Value list finds the next lowest number.. Ascending 10 20 30 40 20 2 Descending 40 30 20 10 20 #N/A Wrong Value 10 20 30 40 25 2 =MATCH(G62,G57:G60,1) I

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51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Example 3 Using the -1 option suitable for a descending list to find an exact or next highest match. The Ascending list gives the #NA error. The Descending list gives the exact match. The Wrong Value list finds the next highest number. Ascending 10 20 30 40 20 #N/A Descending 40 30 20 10 20 3 Wrong Value 40 30 20 10 25 2 =MATCH(G79,G74:G77,-1)

Example 4 The tables below were used to by a bus company taking booking for bus tours. They need to allocate a bus with enough seats for the all the passengers. The list of bus sizes has been entered in a list. The number of passengers on the tour is then entered. The =MATCH() function looks down the list to find the bus with enough seats. If the number of passengers is not an exact match, the next biggest bus will be picked. After the =MATCH() function has found the bus, the =INDEX() function has been used to look down the list again and pick out the actual bus size required. Bus Size 54 50 22 15 6 Passengers on the tour : 23 Bus size needed : 50 =INDEX(D95:D99,MATCH(H94,D95:D99,-1),0)

Bus 1 Bus 2 Bus 3 Bus 4 Bus 5

Excel Function Dictionary 1998 - 2000 Peter Noneley A B 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 C D E F G H I

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Example 5 The tables below were used by a school to calculate the exam grades for pupils. The list of grade breakpoints was entered in a list. The pupils scores were entered in another list. The pupils scores are compared against the breakpoints. If an exact match is not found, the next lowest breakpoint is used. The =INDEX() function then looks down the Grade list to find the grade. Exam Score Grade 0 Fail 50 Pass 90 Merit 95 Distinction Pupil Score Grade Alan 60 Pass Bob 6 Fail Carol 97 Distinction David 89 Pass =INDEX(D111:D114,MATCH(G114,C111:C114,1),0)