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20_044039 ch15.qxp 11/21/06 11:07 AM Page 289
Creating Formulas That Look Up Values
FIGURE 15.15
This workbook demonstrates how to perform a lookup by using the closest match.
The array formula that follows identifies the closest match to the Target value in the Data range and returns 15
the names of the corresponding student in column A (that is, the column with an offset of –1). The formula
returns Leslie (with a matching value of 8,000, which is the one closest to the Target value of 8,025).
{=INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(Data)+MATCH(MIN(ABS(Target-Data)),
ABS(Target-Data),0)-1,COLUMN(Data)+ColOffset))}
If two values in the Data range are equidistant from the Target value, the formula uses the first one in
the list.
The value in ColOffset can be negative (for a column to the left of Data), positive (for a column to the right
of Data), or 0 (for the actual closest match value in the Data range).
To understand how this formula works, you need to understand the INDIRECT function. This function’s
first argument is a text string in the form of a cell reference (or a reference to a cell that contains a text
string). In this example, the text string is created by the ADDRESS function, which accepts a row and
column reference and returns a cell address.

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