Function giving error

[Martin]

Hi,

I am Using Office XP and i am writing a function in Excel that is giving me
an error "The formula you type contains an error...."

here is my function

=IF(B20="Semiprecious",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),semiprecious,2),IF(B20="Fancy",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),fancy,2),IF(B20="Precious",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),precious,2),IF(B20="Gems",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),gem,2),IF(B20="Jewels",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),jewel,2),IF(B20="Ornamental",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),ornamental,2)))))))


The problem seem to be the last round(rand... function.
If i remove the last ROUND it work fine but when i put it in i am getting
the error. Is there a limitation with the number of function you can have in
a single cell ?


Any help greatly appreciated


Martin

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Hi,

I am Using Office XP and i am writing a function in Excel that is giving me
an error "The formula you type contains an error...."

here is my function

=IF(B20="Semiprecious",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),semiprecious,2),IF(B20="Fancy",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),fancy,2),IF(B20="Precious",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),precious,2),IF(B20="Gems",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),gem,2),IF(B20="Jewels",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),jewel,2),IF(B20="Ornamental",VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),ornamental,2)))))))


The problem seem to be the last round(rand... function.
If i remove the last ROUND it work fine but when i put it in i am getting
the error. Is there a limitation with the number of function you can have in
a single cell ?


Any help greatly appreciated


Martin

There is a nesting limit of 7. Your last RAND() exceeds that.
--ron

 

[Myrna Larson]

You can only have 7 nested IF statements, but I believe you have not hit that
limit.

If you can change the name of the Gem and Jewel ranges to Gems and Jewels,
respectively, you can shorten your formula (considerably!) with this
modification:

=VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),INDIRECT(B20),2)

Since you are not using an exact match in your VLOOKUP formulas, you can
probably eliminate the ROUND function altogether, though that depends on what
you have in the first column of your tables.

=VLOOKUP(RAND()*100,INDIRECT(B20),2)

 

[Martin]

Thank a lot Myrna, it work

You can only have 7 nested IF statements, but I believe you have not hit
that
limit.

If you can change the name of the Gem and Jewel ranges to Gems and Jewels,
respectively, you can shorten your formula (considerably!) with this
modification:

=VLOOKUP(ROUND(RAND()*100,0),INDIRECT(B20),2)

Since you are not using an exact match in your VLOOKUP formulas, you can
probably eliminate the ROUND function altogether, though that depends on
what
you have in the first column of your tables.

=VLOOKUP(RAND()*100,INDIRECT(B20),2)