What is lookup & reference functions in Excel?

One of the key features of Excel is its ability to use lookup and reference functions,
which allow users to search for and retrieve specific data within a spreadsheet. In this
article, we’ll explore the basics of lookup and reference functions in Excel and
discover how they can be used to improve your spreadsheet skills.

Lookup functions in Excel

Lookup functions in Excel are used to search for specific data in a specified range of
cells and return a corresponding value based on certain criteria. The most common
lookup functions are VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX and MATCH.

VLOOKUP, short for “vertical lookup”, is used to search for a value in the leftmost
column of a range of cells and return a value in the same row from a specified
column. It is especially useful when you have a large data set and you want to quickly
find a value based on a specific criteria. For example, if you have a table of sales data
and you want to find the sales amount for a particular product based on its product
code, you can use VLOOKUP to easily retrieve that information.

=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])

HLOOKUP, on the other hand, stands for “horizontal lookup” and works in a similar
way to VLOOKUP, but looks for a value in the top row of a range of cells and returns
a value in the same column from a specified row. It is useful when you need to search
for a value based on criteria in the top row, such as finding the price of a product
based on its name.

=HLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, row_index_num, [range_lookup])

INDEX and MATCH are often used together to perform more complex searches.
INDEX is used to return the value of a cell in a specified row and column of a range
of cells, while MATCH is used to find the position of a value within a specified range
of cells. By combining INDEX and MATCH, you can create powerful lookup
formulas that can search for values based on multiple criteria.
=INDEX(array, row_num, [col_num], [area_num])

=MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, [match_type])

and both combined

=INDEX(array, MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, [match_type]), [col_num])

Reference functions in Excel

Reference functions in Excel, on the other hand, allow users to retrieve information
about the location or contents of cells in a worksheet. Some common reference
functions are CELL, INDIRECT and OFFSET.

CELL is used to retrieve information about the formatting, location, or contents of a

cell. For example, you can use CELL to find the address, row number, or column
number of a specific cell. This can be useful when you need to dynamically reference
cells in your formulas based on their properties.

=CELL(info_type, reference)

INDIRECT is used to create a cell reference indirectly by using a text string as the
reference. This can be useful when you want to refer to a cell whose location is
determined by the value of another cell. For example, if you have a sheet name in a
cell and you want to retrieve data from that sheet based on the value in that cell, you
can use INDIRECT to dynamically create a cell reference.

=INDIRECT(ref_text, [a1])

OFFSET is used to return a reference to a range of cells that is offset from a specified
starting cell by a specified number of rows and columns. This can be useful when you
need to create a dynamic range of cells that changes based on certain criteria. For
example, if you have a sales data table that expands over time, you can use OFFSET
to create a dynamic range that automatically adjusts as new data is added.
=OFFSET(reference, rows, colors, [height], [width])

Both lookup and reference functions in Excel provide users with powerful tools to
dynamically and efficiently manipulate and retrieve data from spreadsheets. They can
save time and effort by automating repetitive tasks and allow users to quickly analyze
and retrieve specific data from large data sets. By mastering these features, you can
unlock Excel’s full potential and improve your spreadsheet skills.

Conclusion
In conclusion, lookup and reference functions are essential tools in Excel that allow
users to search for and retrieve specific data within a spreadsheet. VLOOKUP,
HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, CELL, INDIRECT, and OFFSET are powerful
functions that can be used to automate tasks, analyze data, and dynamically reference
cells based on various criteria.

By mastering these functions, you can unlock the full potential of Excel and enhance
your spreadsheet skills, making your data analysis and manipulation more efficient
and effective. Incorporating lookup and reference functions in your Excel workflows
can greatly improve your productivity and empower you to become a more proficient
Excel user. So, take the time to learn and utilize these functions to elevate your Excel
skills and excel in your data management tasks.

 How to do Lookup in Excel: functions and formula examples (ablebits.com)

 Date and time functions
 To get the current date and time, use the NOW function. Enter
“=NOW ()” in a cell and hit Enter.
 To get the current date only, use the TODAY function. Enter
“=TODAY ()” in a cell and hit Enter.
 To get the hour, minute, or second of a time value, use the HOUR,
MINUTE, or SECOND function. For example, enter “=HOUR (NOW ())”
to get the current hour.
 To add a number of hours, minutes, and/or seconds to a time value,
use the TIME function. For example, enter “=TIME (1, 30, 0)” to get
1:30:00.
 To format the date and time, right-click on the cell and select Format
Cells. Choose your desired date and time format and click OK.
Logical operators in Excel include:
 1. AND: Combines multiple conditions and returns TRUE if all
conditions are TRUE.
2. OR: Combines multiple conditions and returns TRUE if at least one
condition is TRUE.
3. XOR: Returns TRUE if exactly one condition is TRUE.
4. NOT: Reverses the logical value of a condition . 1

5. Comparison operators: These include > (Greater Than), < (Less

Than), = (Equal To), >= (Greater Than or Equal To), <= (Less Than
or Equal To), and <> (Not Equal) . 2

IF Function
The IF function is a premade function in Excel, which returns values based on
a true or false condition.

It is typed =IF and has 3 parts:

=IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

The condition is referred to as logical_test, which can check things like:

 If a number is greater than another number >

 If a number is smaller than another number <
 If a number or text is equal to something =

Note: You can decide both the return values and the condition.

MAX Function and min

The MAX function is a premade function in Excel, which finds the highest
number in a range.

It is typed =MAX

The function ignores cells with text. It will only work for cells with numbers.

Note: There is another function called MIN, which finds the lowest value in a
range, the opposite of MAX.

How to use the =MAX function:

1. Select a cell (G5)

2. Type =MAX
3. Double click the MAX command
 4. Select a range (D2:D21)
5. Hit enter

SUMIF Function
The SUMIF function is a premade function in Excel, which calculates the sum of
values in a range based on a true or false condition.

It is typed =SUMIF:

=SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])

The condition is referred to as criteria, which can check things like:

 If a number is greater than another number >

 If a number is smaller than another number <
 If a number or text is equal to something =

The [sum_range] is the range where the function calculates the sum.

Note: The [sum_range] is optional.

If not specified, the function calculates the sum of the same range as the
condition.
Note: The different parts of the function are separated by a symbol, like
comma , or semicolon ;

The symbol depends on your Language Settings.

6.

10 Benefits of Microsoft Excel

1. Best way to store data
2. You can perform calculations
3. All the tools for data analysis
4. Easy to data visualizations with charts
5. You can print reports easily
6. So many free templates to use
7. You can code to automate
8. Transform and clean data
9. Store data with millions of rows
10. You can work with Excel online + mobile app
Many tasks you perform in Excel involve comparing data in different cells. For this,
Microsoft Excel provides six logical operators, which are also called comparison
operators. This tutorial aims to help you understand the insight of Excel logical
operators and write the most efficient formulas for your data analysis.

 Excel logical operators

o Equal to
o Not equal to
o Greater than / less than / greater than or equal to / less than or equal to
 Common uses of logical operators in Excel

Excel logical operators - overview

A logical operator is used in Excel to compare two values. Logical operators are
sometimes called Boolean operators because the result of the comparison in any given
case can only be either TRUE or FALSE.

Six logical operators are available in Excel. The following table explains what each of
them does and illustrates the theory with formula examples.

Formula
Condition Operator Description
Example

The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is equal

Equal to = =A1=B1
to the values in cell B1; FALSE otherwise.

The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is not

Not equal to <> =A1<>B1
equal to the value in cell B1; FALSE otherwise.

The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is greater

Greater than > =A1>B1
than a value in cell B1; otherwise it returns FALSE.

The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is less

Less than < =A1<B1
than in cell B1; FALSE otherwise.

Greater than or >= =A1>=B1 The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is greater
equal to
 Formula
Condition Operator Description
Example

than or equal to the values in cell B1; FALSE otherwise.

Less than or The formula returns TRUE if a value in cell A1 is less

<= =A1<=B1
equal to than or equal to the values in cell B1; FALSE otherwise.

The screenshot below demonstrates the results returned by Equal to, Not equal
to, Greater than and Less than logical operators:

It may seem that the above table covers it all and there's nothing more to talk about. But
in fact, each logical operator has its own specificities and knowing them can help you
harness the real power of Excel formulas.

Using "Equal to" logical operator in Excel

The Equal to logical operator (=) can be used to compare all data types - numbers,
dates, text values, Booleans, as well as the results returned by other Excel formulas.
For example:

=A1=B1 Returns TRUE if the values in cells A1 and B1 are the same, FALSE otherwise.

=A1="oranges" Returns TRUE if cells A1 contain the word "oranges", FALSE otherwise.

=A1=TRUE Returns TRUE if cells A1 contain the Boolean value TRUE, otherwise it returns
 FALSE.

Returns TRUE if a number in cell A1 is equal to the quotient of the division of B1

=A1=(B1/2)
by 2, FALSE otherwise.

Example 1. Using the "Equal to" operator with dates

You might be surprised to know that the Equal to logical operator cannot compare dates
as easily as numbers. For example, if the cells A1 and A2 contain the date "12/1/2014",
the formula =A1=A2 will return TRUE exactly as it should.

However, if you try either =A1=12/1/2014 or =A1="12/1/2014" you will get FALSE as the
result. A bit unexpected, eh?

The point is that Excel stores dates as numbers beginning with 1-Jan-1900, which is
stored as 1. The date 12/1/2014 is stored as 41974. In the above formulas, Microsoft
Excel interprets "12/1/2014" as a usual text string, and since "12/1/2014" is not equal to
41974, it returns FALSE.

To get the correct result, you must always wrap a date in the DATEVALUE function, like
this =A1=DATEVALUE("12/1/2014")

Note. The DATEVALUE function needs to be used with other logical operator as well,
as demonstrated in the examples that follow.

The same approach should be applied when you use Excel's equal to operator in the
logical test of the IF function. You can find more info as well as a few formula examples
in this tutorial: Using Excel IF function with dates.

Example 2. Using the "Equal to" operator with text values

Using Excel's Equal to operator with text values does not require any extra twists. The
only thing you should keep in mind is that the Equal to logical operator in Excel is case-
insensitive, meaning that case differences are ignored when comparing text values.
For example, if cell A1 contains the word "oranges" and cell B1 contains "Oranges", the
formula =A1=B1 will return TRUE.

If you want to compare text values taking in to account their case differences, you
should use the EXACT function instead of the Equal to operator. The syntax of the
EXACT function is as simple as:

EXACT(text1, text2)

Where text 1 and text2 are the values you want to compare. If the values are exactly the
same, including case, Excel returns TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE. You can also
use the EXACT function in IF formulas when you need a case-sensitive comparison of
text values, as shown in the below screenshot:

Note. If you want to compare the length of two text values, you can use the LEN
function instead, for example =LEN(A2)=LEN(B2) or =LEN(A2)>=LEN(B2).

Example 3. Comparing Boolean values and numbers

There is a widespread opinion that in Microsoft Excel the Boolean value of TRUE
always equates to 1 and FALSE to 0. However, this is only partially true, and the key
word here is "always" or more precisely "not always" : )

When writing an 'equal to' logical expression that compares a Boolean value and a
number, you need to specifically point out for Excel that a non-numeric Boolean value
should be treated as a number. You can do this by adding the double minus sign in front
of a Boolean value or a cell reference, e. g. =A2=--TRUE or =A2=--B2.

The 1st minus sign, which is technically called the unary operator, coerces TRUE/FALSE
to -1/0, respectively, and the second unary negates the values turning them into +1 and
0. This will probably be easier to understand looking at the following screenshot:

Note. You should add the double unary operator before a Boolean when using other
logical operators such as not equal to, greater than or less than to correctly compare a
numeric and Boolean values.

When using logical operators in complex formulas, you might also need to add the
double unary before each logical expression that returns TRUE or FALSE as the result.
Here's an example of such a formula: SUMPRODUCT and SUMIFS in Excel.

Using "Not equal to" logical operator in Excel

You use Excel's Not equal to operator (<>) when you want to make sure that a cell's
value is not equal to a specified value. The use of the Not equal to operator is very
similar to the use of Equal to that we discussed a moment ago.

The results returned by the Not equal to operator are analogous to the results produced
by the Excel NOT function that reverses the value of its argument. The following table
provides a few formula examples.

Not equal to operator NOT function Description

Returns TRUE if the

values in cells A1 and B1
=A1<>B1 =NOT(A1=B1)
are not the same, FALSE
otherwise.

Returns TRUE if cell A1

contains any value other
than "oranges", FALSE if
=A1<>"oranges" =NOT(A1="oranges")
it contains "oranges" or
"ORANGES" or
"Oranges", etc.
 Not equal to operator NOT function Description

Returns TRUE if cell A1

contains any value other
=A1<>TRUE =NOT(A1=TRUE)
than TRUE, FALSE
otherwise.

Returns TRUE if a
number in cell A1 is not
=A1<>(B1/2) =NOT(A1=B1/2) equal to the quotient of
the division of B1 by 2,
FALSE otherwise.

Returns TRUE if A1
contains any value other
than the date of 1-Dec-
=A1<>DATEVALUE("12/1/2014") =NOT(A1=DATEVALUE("12/1/2014"))
2014, regardless of the
date format, FALSE
otherwise.

Greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to

You use these logical operators in Excel to check how one number compares to
another. Microsoft Excel provides 4 comparison operates whose names are self-
explanatory:

 Greater than (>)

 Greater than or equal to (>=)
 Less than (<)
 Less than or equal to (<=)

Most often, Excel comparison operators are used with numbers, date and time values.
For example:

Returns TRUE if a number in cell A1 is greater than 20, FALSE

=A1>20
otherwise.

=A1>=(B1/2) Returns TRUE if a number in cell A1 is greater than or equal to the

 quotient of the division of B1 by 2, FALSE otherwise.

Returns TRUE if a date in cell A1 is less than 1-Dec-2014, FALSE

=A1<DATEVALUE("12/1/2014")
otherwise.

Returns TRUE if a number in cell A1 is less than or equal to the

=A1<=SUM(B1:D1)
sum of values in cells B1:D1, FALSE otherwise.

Using Excel comparison operators with text values

In theory, you can also use the greater than, greater than or equal to operators as well
as their less than counterparts with text values. For example, if cell A1 contains "apples"
and B1 contains "bananas", guess what the formula =A1>B1 will return? Congratulations
to those who've staked on FALSE : )

When comparing text values, Microsoft Excel ignores their case and compares the
values symbol by symbol, "a" being considered the lowest text value and "z" - the
highest text value.

So, when comparing the values of "apples" (A1) and "bananas" (B1), Excel starts with
their first letters "a" and "b", respectively, and since "b" is greater than "a", the
formula =A1>B1 returns FALSE.

If the first letters are the same, then the 2nd letters are compared, if they happen to be
identical too, then Excel gets to the 3rd, 4th letters and so on. For example, if A1
contained "apples" and B1 contained "agave", the formula =A1>B1 would return TRUE
because "p" is greater than "g".

At first sight, the use of comparison operators with text values seems to have very little
practical sense, but you never know what you might need in the future, so probably this
knowledge will prove helpful to someone.

Common uses of logical operators in Excel

In real work, Excel logical operators are rarely used on their own. Agree, the Boolean
values TRUE and FALSE they return, though very true (excuse the pun), are not very
meaningful. To get more sensible results, you can use logical operators as part of Excel
functions or conditional formatting rules, as demonstrated in the below examples.

1. Using logical operators in arguments of Excel functions

When it comes to logical operators, Excel is very permissive and allows using them in
parameters of many functions. One of the most common uses is found in Excel IF
function where the comparison operators can help to construct a logical test, and the IF
formula will return an appropriate result depending on whether the test evaluates to
TRUE or FALSE. For example:

=IF(A1>=B1, "OK", "Not OK")

This simple IF formula returns OK if a value in cell A1 is greater than or equal to a value
in cell B1, "Not OK" otherwise.

And here's another example:

=IF(A1<>B1, SUM(A1:C1), "")

The formula compares the values in cells A1 and B1, and if A1 is not equal to B1, the
sum of values in cells A1:C1 is returned, an empty string otherwise.

Excel logical operators are also widely used in special IF functions such as SUMIF,
COUNTIF, AVERAGEIF and their plural counterparts that return a result based on a
certain condition or multiple conditions.

You can find a wealth of formula examples in the following tutorials:

 Using IF function in Excel

 How to use SUMIF in Excel
 Excel SUMIFS and SUMIF with multiple criteria
 Using COUNTIF in Excel
 Excel COUNTIFS and COUNTIF with multiple criteria

2. Using Excel logical operators in mathematical calculations

Of course, Excel functions are very powerful, but you don't always have to use them to
achieve the desired result. For example, the results returned by the following two
formulas are identical:

IF function: =IF(B2>C2, B2*10, B2*5)

Formula with logical operators: =(B2>C2)*(B2*10)+(B2<=C2)*(B2*5)

I guess the IF formula is easier to interpret, right? It tells Excel to multiply a value in cell
B2 by 10 if B2 is greater than C2, otherwise the value in B1 is multiplied by 5.

Now, let's analyze what the 2nd formula with the greater than and less than or equal
to logical operators does. It helps to know that in mathematical calculations Excel does
equate the Boolean value TRUE to 1, and FALSE to 0. Keeping this in mind, let's see
what each of the logical expressions actually returns.

If a value in cell B2 is greater than a value in C2, then the expression B2>C2 is TRUE,
and consequently equal to 1. On the other hand, B2<=C2 is FALSE and equal to 0. So,
given that B2>C2, our formula undergoes the following transformation:

Since any number multiplied by zero gives zero, we can cast away the second part of
the formula after the plus sign. And because any number multiplied by 1 is that number,
our complex formula turns into a simple =B2*10 that returns the product of multiplying
B2 by 10, which is exactly what the above IF formula does : )

Obviously, if a value in cell B2 is less than in C2, then the expression B2>C2 evaluates
to FALSE (0) and B2<=C2 to TRUE (1), meaning that the reverse of the described
above will occur.

3. Logical operators in Excel conditional formatting

Another common use of logical operators is found in Excel Conditional Formatting that
lets you quickly highlight the most important information in a spreadsheet.

For example, the following simple rules highlight selected cells or entire rows in your
worksheet depending on a value in column A:

Less than (orange): =A1<5

Greater than (green): =A1>20

For the detailed-step-by-step instructions and rule examples, please see the following
articles:

 Excel conditional formatting formulas

 How to change the row color based on a cell's value
 Two ways to change background color based on cell value
 How to highlight every other row in Excel

As you see, the use of logical operators in Excel is intuitive and easy. In the next article,
we are going to learn the nuts and bolts of Excel logical functions that allow performing
more than one comparison in a formula. Please stay tuned and thank you for reading!

Types of Computer
There are two bases on which we can define the types of
computers. We will discuss the type of computers on the basis of
size and data handling capabilities. We will discuss each type of
computer in detail. Let’s see first what are the types of computers.
 Super Computer
 Mainframe computer
 Mini Computer
 Workstation Computer
 Personal Computer (PC)
 Server Computer
 Analog Computer
 Digital Computer
 Hybrid Computer
 Tablets and Smartphone
Now, we are going to discuss each of them in detail.
Supercomputer
When we talk about speed, then the first name that comes to mind
when thinking of computers is supercomputers. They are the
biggest and fastest computers (in terms of speed of processing
data). Supercomputers are designed such that they can process a
huge amount of data, like processing trillions of instructions or data
just in a second. This is because of the thousands of interconnected
processors in supercomputers. It is basically used in scientific and
engineering applications such as weather forecasting, scientific
simulations, and nuclear energy research. It was first developed by
Roger Cray in 1976.

Super Computers

Characteristics of Supercomputers
 Supercomputers are the computers that are the fastest and
they are also very expensive.
  It can calculate up to ten trillion individual calculations per
second, this is also the reason which makes it even faster.
 It is used in the stock market or big organizations for
managing the online currency world such as Bitcoin etc.
 It is used in scientific research areas for analyzing data
obtained from exploring the solar system, satellites, etc.
Mainframe computer
Mainframe computers are designed in such a way that they can
support hundreds or thousands of users at the same time. It also
supports multiple programs simultaneously. So, they can execute
different processes simultaneously. All these features make the
mainframe computer ideal for big organizations like banking,
telecom sectors, etc., which process a high volume of data in
general.
Characteristics of Mainframe Computers
 It is also an expensive or costly computer.
 It has high storage capacity and great performance.
 It can process a huge amount of data (like data involved in
the banking sector) very quickly.
 It runs smoothly for a long time and has a long life.
Minicomputer
Minicomputer is a medium size multiprocessing computer. In this
type of computer, there are two or more processors, and it
supports 4 to 200 users at one time. Minicomputer is similar to
Microcontroller. Minicomputers are used in places like institutes or
departments for different work like billing, accounting, inventory
management, etc. It is smaller than a mainframe computer but
larger in comparison to the microcomputer.
Characteristics of Minicomputer
 Its weight is low.
 Because of its low weight, it is easy to carry anywhere.
 less expensive than a mainframe computer.
 It is fast.
Workstation Computer
A workstation computer is designed for technical or scientific
applications. It consists of a fast microprocessor, with a large
amount of RAM and a high-speed graphic adapter. It is a single-
user computer. It is generally used to perform a specific task with
great accuracy.
Characteristics of Workstation Computer
 It is expensive or high in cost.
  They are exclusively made for complex work purposes.
 It provides large storage capacity, better graphics, and a
more powerful CPU when compared to a PC.
 It is also used to handle animation, data analysis, CAD,
audio and video creation, and editing.
Personal Computer (PC)
Personal Computers is also known as a microcomputer. It is
basically a general-purpose computer designed for individual use. It
consists of a microprocessor as a central processing unit(CPU),
memory, input unit, and output unit. This kind of computer is
suitable for personal work such as making an assignment, watching
a movie, or at the office for office work, etc. For example, Laptops
and desktop computers.
 Personal Computer

Characteristics of Personal Computer (PC)

 In this limited number of software can be used.
 It is the smallest in size.
 It is designed for personal use.
 It is easy to use.

Server Computer
Server Computers are computers that are combined data and
programs. Electronic data and applications are stored and shared in
the server computer. The working of a server computer is that it
does not solve a bigger problem like a supercomputer but it solves
many smaller similar ones. Examples of server computer are like
Wikipedia, as when users put a request for any page, it finds what
the user is looking for and sends it to the user.
Analog Computer
Analog Computers are particularly designed to process analog
data. Continuous data that changes continuously and cannot have
discrete values are called analog data. So, an analog computer is
used where we don’t need exact values or need approximate
values such as speed, temperature, pressure, etc. It can directly
accept the data from the measuring device without first converting
it into numbers and codes. It measures the continuous changes in
physical quantity. It gives output as a reading on a dial or scale. For
example speedometer, mercury thermometer, etc.
Digital Computer
Digital computers are designed in such a way that they can easily
perform calculations and logical operations at high speed. It takes
raw data as input and processes it with programs stored in its
memory to produce the final output. It only understands the binary
input 0 and 1, so the raw input data is converted to 0 and 1 by the
computer and then it is processed by the computer to produce the
result or final output. All modern computers, like laptops, desktops
including smartphones are digital computers.
Hybrid Computer
As the name suggests hybrid, which means made by combining
two different things. Similarly, the hybrid computer is a
combination of both analog and digital computers. Hybrid
computers are fast like analog computers and have memory and
accuracy like digital computers. So, it has the ability to process
both continuous and discrete data. For working when it accepts
analog signals as input then it converts them into digital form
before processing the input data. So, it is widely used in specialized
applications where both analog and digital data are required to be
processed. A processor which is used in petrol pumps that converts
the measurements of fuel flow into quantity and price is an
example of a hybrid computer.
Tablet and Smartphones

Tablets and Smartphones are the types of computers that are

pocket friendly and easy to carry is these are handy. This is one of
the best use of modern technology. These devices have better
hardware capabilities, extensive operating systems, and better
multimedia functionality. smartphones and tablets contain a
number of sensors and are also able to provide wireless
communication protocols.

Tablet and Smartphones

We generally classify computers on the basis of size, functionality,

and data handling capabilities. For more, you can refer
to Classification of Computers .