How to find a value with multi-column, multi-record list

[Dallasm]

I have a spreadsheet with $costs arranged according to values in both rows
and columns.
How do I create drop down lists for both the rows and columns and then
return the cell value?
eg if I have 5 rows (2-6) and 6 columns (B-G) with costs arranged in each
cell within this group how do I create drop downs for each selection, 2-6 and
B-G, and return the value to a selected cell.

 

[T. Valko]

In a typical table of this nature there would be descriptive row and column
headers. To do a lookup on this table you would then look for the
intersection of a specific row header and a specific column header.

Here's a simplified example...

...........A..........B..........C
1.................gizmoA...gizmoB
2.....blue........12.........10
3.....black......15.........21

You want to know how many black gizmoA's are in stock.

Lookup values:

E1: black
F1: gizmoA

Formula entered in G1:

=VLOOKUP(E1,A1:C3,MATCH(F1,A1:C1,0),0)

The lookup values in E1 and F1 can be selected using a data validation drop
down list. Watch this short video.

How to setup a data validation drop down list: