problem with index formula

[TWLove556694]

The following fomula is contained in cell C16 and returns the correct
values:

=VLOOKUP(B6,'Active Clients'!$B$2:$K$954,10,FALSE)

The following formula is contained in cell L18 and uses the result in
C16 as a lookup value in the first "match":

=INDEX(L21:M44,MATCH(C16,L21:L44,1),MATCH(M16,L21:M21,-1))

My promlem is that when I try to match on cell C16 my index formula
returns an error. However, when I change the index formula to
reference another cell (let's say cell D16) and I type in the value
shown in cell C16, the index formula works fine. I think my problem
has something to do with formatting because if I enter this:
D16=C16... the index formula fails once again.

 

[T. Valko]

See this about common problems with lookup formulas:

http://contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html#Trouble

 

[daddylonglegs]

So it sounds like your VLOOKUP returns a text formatted "number" which you
need to be a real number. Try adding +0 to your VLOOKUP to convert it to
numeric, i.e. change C16 to

=VLOOKUP(B6,'Active Clients'!$B$2:$K$954,10,FALSE)+0