Sort a column of formulas

[Guest]

Suppose I have ten numbers in cells A1 - A10. In cells B1 - B10, I have
formulas, each one referring to the neighbor cell in column A.

I want to sort column B ascending without touching column A. For example,
if the smallest value was in B6, I want the formula in B6--including its
reference to A6-- to be transferred to B1, etc.

I tried doing this in my Excel 2000 and it did not work. Should it? If
yes, what could be the problem? If no, is there another way to achieve the
same result? Thanks.

Thanks.

 

[Bryan Hessey]

I imagine that after you did your sort the cells were re-located, then
the formula re-calculated, and if it were the same relative formula in
each cell guess it would look like it didn't sort at all.

You could Copy column B, then Paste Special = Values back over itsself
before the sort.

Hope this helps

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[Guest]

What you suggested would not work because I want to keep the formulas, in
case column A values change. However, your reply did hint at the solution:
by using absolute references, I was able to sort the formulas. Now the next
question is how to convert all the relative references to absolute ones,
without having to go to every cell one by one and pressing F4!

 

[Bryan Hessey]

Perhaps in column C you could put

="A"&MATCH(SMALL(B$1:B$10,ROW()),B$1:B$10,0)

to show the ascending order of column B by reference to column A.

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What you suggested would not work because I want to keep the formulas
in
case column A values change. However, your reply did hint at th
solution:
by using absolute references, I was able to sort the formulas. Now th
next
question is how to convert all the relative references to absolut
ones,
without having to go to every cell one by one and pressing F4!

 

[Guest]

Do you have any interest in a VBA solution?

 

[Bryan Hessey]

Hi Gary''s Student,

I wonder, if the formula in column B is, as is indicated, a standard
incrementing formula, copied down the column, then the sequence would
normally be the same sequence as column A.

If this is true then, assuming the formula were something like (say)
*4+2, the formula from B1 downwards should be:

=INDIRECT("A"&MATCH(SMALL(A$1:A$10,ROW()),A$1:A$10,0))*4+2&" from
A"&MATCH(SMALL(A$1:A$10,ROW()),A$1:A$10,0)

would be more informative in that the OP would not need to visit each
cell in B to see where the formula originated, and would be in
ascending sequence.

-note, it doesn't handle duplicates, for that one would need to use
column C as =A1+row()/100000000 and in column B from B1 onwards use
=INDIRECT("A"&MATCH(SMALL(C$1:C$10,ROW()),C$1:C$10,0))*4+2&" from
A"&MATCH(SMALL(C$1:C$10,ROW()),C$1:C$10,0)
column C could remain hidden.-

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[Guest]

I like your approach:

1. It does not disturb the formulae in column B
2. It provides the sort
3. It avoids VBA

 

[Bryan Hessey]

All true, . . . but is it of any use to the OP?

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