(Combining Multiple Functions - Scenario 1)
Functions used:
MAX
MIN
IF
HLOOKUP
VLOOKUP
A certain charity organization records its received donations in an Excel spreadsheet for 3 rd
quarter 2013 shown as follows. Donors may, of course, repeat their donations at different
times with different amounts. It is safe to assume that repeated donors’ names are spelled
exactly the same way correctly. Further, although there are many more donations, for the
purpose of testing, the charity organization just assumes for now that rows 6 to 17 are all the
donations received during the quarter.
The month when each donation was received is recorded in column C. A table at F1:Q2 giving
the day-of-year of the first day of each month is also shown in the spreadsheet. Thus, 1 st of Jun
is the 152nd day of year, while 1st of Aug is the 213rd day of year.
(a) Fill in cell B1 the maximum amount of donation received in the quarter.
(b) Fill in cell B2 the minimum amount of donation received in the quarter.
(c) In cell B3, the charity organization would like to display the number of days difference
between the day when the minimum and the maximum donations were received (assume
all donations are received on the first of each month). In the sample of donations given
above, for example, the minimum donation ($10) was received in Jul while the maximum
($190) was received in Aug. Since the gap is 31 days, cell B3 therefore shows 31.
Construct a formula in B3 that will achieve the purpose just described.
Your formula in cell B3 must work for any month regardless of whether the largest
donation was received earlier or later than the smallest donation, not just for the data
shown above.
(a) Suggested answer
B1  =MAX(B6:B17)
(b) Suggested Answer
B2  =MIN(B6:B17)
(c) Suggested Answer
Without using the ABS Function:
(Note: It is a long formula because we are deliberately not using the ABS function)
B3  =IF(HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)>
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE),
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE),
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE) HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE))
Using the ABS Function:
(Note: Now see how short the formula has become)
B3  =ABS(HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE),
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)
Explaining part (c)

Using VLOOKUP find the Month corresponding to the Largest Amount (B1) in the Donor
table.
o lookup_value: B1
o table_array: B6:C17
o col_index_num: 2
o range_lookup: FALSE
Formulae: =VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE)
lookup_value
column 2
table_array of
VLOOKUP

Next, using HLOOKUP find the Day of Year using the value computed earlier to look up the
Day of Year table.
o lookup_value: VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE)
o table_array: F1:Q2
o row_index_num: 2
o range_lookup: FALSE
Formula: =HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)
row 2
table_array of
HLOOKUP

Do the same for the Smallest Amount (B2)
Formula: =HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)

Construct the duration formula as follows:
o Formula 1: If largest donation was received earlier than smallest donation, then
duration =HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)
o Formula 2: If largest donation was received later than smallest donation, then duration
=HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)
Therefore the formula should look like this:
=IF(HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE) >
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE), Formula 1, Formula 2)
The final formula is therefore:
B3  =IF(HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)>
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE),
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE)HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE),
HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B2,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE) HLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(B1,B6:C17,2,FALSE),F1:Q2,2,FALSE))