Finding the last row in a spreadsheet

[cekweb]

Hi all. I'm a relative newbie to using Excel and am stumped.

I'm trying to find the last (non-zero) value in a column. The cells
all have a function in them presently like =IF(C8>0,SUM(B8:C8)," ")
presently so that the cell truly is not empty. I've tried using
=LOOKUP(2,1/(D2350>0),D2350) but it displays nothing since all the
cells have a value (the function above).

How do I find the last cell having a numeric value (which is what the
first function provides)? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

It's because you don't use empty as opposed to space " " is a space and it
is better to use "" instead, change IF to

=IF(C8>0,SUM(B8:C8),"")


then change LOOKUP to

=LOOKUP(2,1/(D235<>""),D235)

 

[Carl]

Peo,

That fixed it. Thanks for answering so quickly.

 

[R.VENKATARAMAN]

the lookup formula as configured is ingenious But i was trying to find the
last row in one column I used
=MATCH(LOOKUP(25,1/(A1:A20<>""),A1:A20),A1:A20)
it gives the row number of the apparent last cell(mine is 9th row-ok)

But I would like to know
1. instead of 2 as lookupvalue I used some other number - is it ok
2. what is the explanation of the term 1/a1:a20<>""
I understand a1:a20<>"" means that any cell in A1:a20 is not equal to blank
but I did understand the nuance of 1/(partiuclarly that backward slash which
is normally division sign)
when I typed in any cell
=1/A1:A20<>""
and hit control+shift+enter
it gave TRUE
and copy down . Then
upto "9" rows the results are TRUE and then #VALUE!
I get a vague idea but I would like to understand better.

apologise for bothering you and kind regards.