Count most common answer.

[Darren]

I have 3 columns of 24 cells headed 'gold' 'silver' and 'bronze'. each of the
24 cells could have 1 of 5 answers depending on other calculations elsewhere
on the sheet. What function can I put into cell 25 of each column to count to
most common name? Or to put it another way, to see who won most golds,
silvers and bronzes out of the 5 people?

 

[Pete_UK]

Well, you could do a little summary table below your data where you
list the five names, eg in A26:A30, and then in B26 you can use this
formula:

=COUNTIF(A$1:A$24,$A26)

Then you can copy this into C2626, and then copy B2626 down to
B30. It will show how many Gold, Silver and Bronze each person
received, assuming Gold is in A1:A24, Silver is in B1:B24, and Bronze
is in C1:C24.

You could then use conditional formatting to highlight the highest in
each category, using MAX.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[T. Valko]

Try this array formula** :

=INDEX(A2:A24,MODE(MATCH(A2:A24,A2:A24,0)))

** array formulas need to be entered using the key combination of
CTRL,SHIFT,ENTER (not just ENTER). Hold down both the CTRL key and the SHIFT
key then hit ENTER.

Copy across as needed.

 

[Ben]

That works if you have a static list of 5 people & treat all evenly. I have a
simliar problem but i have an open list of participants and also want to
assign points/weighting. Here is my data:

A B C D E F G H I
1 Tom Frank Sue Bert Gary Sue Tom Sue Bert
Pts 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1

What i want to see is what is the most common name for event 1 (A1 to I1)
but also apply weighting/points to the event. So if A1, D1 & G1 equals 3
points then B1, E1 & H1 = 2 points & C1, F1 & I1 - 1 points. So your Index
formula works to show who is mentioned the most = Sue. But I want to see who
has the most points for the event = Tom.

Hope this is clear. Any help would be much appreciated as i have been going
through the lists manually and compiling.

 

[T. Valko]

Try this array formula** :

=INDEX(B1:J1,MATCH(MAX(SUMIF(B1:J1,B1:J1,B2:J2)),SUMIF(B1:J1,B1:J1,B2:J2),0))

** array formulas need to be entered using the key combination of
CTRL,SHIFT,ENTER (not just ENTER). Hold down both the CTRL key and the SHIFT
key then hit ENTER.

Note that if more than one person has the highest total the formula will
return the leftmost name with the highest total.

 

[Ben]

thanks but when i insert the formula it returns Bert(only 4 points) as the
answer when it should be Tom with 6 points. I'm using Excel 2003.

Not sure what the problem is?

 

[T. Valko]

Here's a small sample file that demonstrates this.

xBen.xls 17kb

http://cjoint.com/?bmsUtsNfjF

 

[Ben]

thanks i think it got it.

Here's a small sample file that demonstrates this.

xBen.xls 17kb

http://cjoint.com/?bmsUtsNfjF

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP





.

 

[T. Valko]

Good deal. Thanks for the feedback!