match two columns (with equal dates) and their attached datasets

[claudia]

I do have several instruments that collect water quality data every 15
minutes. All data sets are imported into excel. Because I do have to throw
out some data points, there are gaps in the data sets and the date column of
the instruments do not line up anymore. In order to do appropriate statistics
I do have to have matching date columns.
how can I do this?

thanks

 

[ExcelJockey]

hi claudia

you are relying on the structure of the dataset to align the tim
series from the various instruments, so that any interruption ruin
the alignment

i suggest an alternative

since each data point, ie row of data collected, is probably tim
stamped with a time, your statistics functions should exploit th
time stamp. even if the rows are out of alignment, the timestamp
should identify the points for each time. that's easily done usin
VLOOKUP