Identifying adjacent cells

[daddioja]

If there is a better way to do this, I am certainly open to suggestions,
but here it is.

I have 2 worksheets. Worksheet 1 has the master set of data. There is a
list of people with scores for each one in a variety of games.

On worksheet 2, I want to list the bottom 5 scores in each game with
the name of the person next to each score. I can identify the lowest 5
scores with the small function. I want sheet 2 to display the name that
is in the cell next to the lowest score found on sheet 1. The name can
be displayed in the same cell or in an adjacent cell on sheet 2. Hope
this problem description makes sense.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Biff]

Hi!

Are there any ties involved or the possibility of ties? If so, it can be
kind of complicated depending on how you define the bottom 5.

Assuming no ties:

Names in the range A1:10
Scores in the range B1:B10

Enter this formula in E1:

=SMALL(B$1:B$10,ROWS($1:1))

Enter this formula in D1:

=INDEX(A$1:A$10,MATCH(E1,B$1:B$10,0))

Select both D1 and E1 and copy down to row 5.

Biff

 

[daddioja]

You are a champ! Thanks Biff. It works perfectly and exactly as I hoped.
If you don't mind, can you explain a few things so I understand why?

1. What is the ROWS($1:1) about in the SMALL function? I had thought to
just list 1, 2, etc on that why this syntax?

2. Can you explain how the INDEX and MATCH function are working?

3. What does $ do in front of a reference?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[daddioja]

One problem is that if 2 people have duplicate scores, it lists the
first name twice instead of each name.

I have attached a sample. You can see C18 is not right. Thanks for any
help.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: MATCHING TEST.xls.zip |
|Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=4838 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

[Biff]

Ok........

In my reply you'll notice that I mentioned ties. Depending on how *YOU*
define what the lowest 5 scores are this can be complicated.

Here is a sample file that demonstrates how to extract names based on the
lowest 5 scores that accounts for *ALL* ties.

http://cjoint.com/?gcutiV1YA5

This file is based on your request for the bottom 5 but as you can see there
are 6 names returned. Try playing around with it by changing the criteria in
the yellow cell and changing the values in column B (include ties) and see
what happens.

Biff

 

[daddioja]

Thanks Biff. I think it will work. I will need to play with it, but it
looks promising. Thanks once again.