how do I find the last value of a range....

[Guest]

I am creating a spreadsheet that will record weight gained/lost and I have
the basic spreadsheet done.

However, I need to have a cell that returns a value equal to the difference
between the starting weight and the most recent weight - which is not
necessarily the lowest weight, so I can't use MIN()

Values are being added every few days and as such Excel needs to update as
needed each time. All weight data is entered within the same column.

Has anyone got any advice please.

Thanks.

 

[Ragdyer]

Say your starting weight was entered in A1, and each new weight was
continually entered in the next empty cell in Column A.

Try this formula in B1:

=A1-LOOKUP(99^99,A:A)

 

[Biff]

Hi!

Try this:

Assume starting weight is in cell A1. Periodic weights are entered in column
B starting in B1:

=A1-IF(COUNT(B:B),LOOKUP(10000,B:B),0)

Biff

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ragdyer - I don't suppose you could explain to me how that works could
you? just so that I know why to do it this way again in future.

thanks

 

[Guest]

Thanks Biff - I don't suppose you could explain why it works?
Both your formula and Ragdyer's formula work, but I dont understand why.

Thanks

 

[Biff]

Sure....

=A1-IF(COUNT(B:B),LOOKUP(10000,B:B),0)

The IF(COUNT(B:B) is just to make sure there is a weight entered in column
B. If there wasn't then LOOKUP(10000,B:B) would return an error.

LOOKUP(10000,B:B)

This is kind of hard to explain but I'll do it in laymans terms........

You want to find the last numeric value entered in a range. In this
particular application the numeric value is a persons weight. The way the
function works is if the lookup value (10000) is greater than the MAX value
in the lookup array (B:B) then it returns the last entry in the range that
is less than the lookup value. So, we use an arbitrary number as the lookup
value (1000) that is so large there is no possible way that an entry in the
range (B:B) will be greater than this arbitrary number.

Here's the logic:

No human being can possibly weigh 10,000 lbs. Since the weights in the range
are guaranteed to be less than 10,000 the formula returns the last numeric
value in the range.

Biff

 

[RagDyeR]

The second half of Biff's explanation is exactly what is happening in my
formula, since we are both using the same function (Lookup).
However, I just arbitrarily used a very much larger number then he did (99
to the 99th power) since this will usually fit *all* conditions.

Also, I didn't include an error trap for missing data as he did, since I
felt that an error message (#N/A) would be a fitting notification that
*something* was missing.

I thought that a "0" should signify "0" weight loss, and a null ( "" - empty
cell ) wouldn't really mean anything, since I presumed that the formula was
*not* going to be copied down a column.
--

Regards,

RD
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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit !
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Thanks Ragdyer - I don't suppose you could explain to me how that works
could
you? just so that I know why to do it this way again in future.

thanks

 

[cynomolgous]

Hi.
This is so close to what I want to do, but I can't figure out how to modify
the formula to suit my spreadsheet. Instead of showing the difference
between the starting weight and the most recent weight, I just want a
formula in one cell which will return the value from the most recent entry in
the column (the last cell that isn't blank).

So, say I have dates in column A and weights in column B. On another
worksheet I have a cell that should retun the most recent weight entered in
column B. What formula will work?

Thanks--

 

[Gord Dibben]

=LOOKUP(99^99,Sheet1!B:B)

Entered in a cell on Sheet2


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[cynomolgous]

Thanks!

=LOOKUP(99^99,Sheet1!B:B)

Entered in a cell on Sheet2


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP