Frank,

The OP's statement of: "and return it as an integer" made me think that they
have text values. I was careful to state my assumption about the data being
text entries. I tried to show the text values by using the notation with an
apostrophe leading the numbers (e.g. '1001).

If the user simply has numeric entries in the cells then a MIN() function
will suffice. Otherwise the array formula is one approach to delivering the
result.

This medium makes it difficult at times to fully understand the starting
conditions. Thanks for the double-check.

Troy

"Frank Kabel" wrote in message
...
Hi
in this case no need for VALUE and an array formula.
MIN(A1:A10)
should return the same value

But this will get the lowest USED number and not the
lowest FREE number :-)

Frank
-----Original Message-----
I'm assuming you have a column of data that looks like
numbers but they are
really entered as text.
A1: '1001
A2: '1002
A3: '1003
....
A10: '1010

You can place the following ARRAY formula in cell C1 to
get the lowest
value.
C1: =MIN(VALUE(A1:A10))
--Important-- Finish typing the entry with: Ctrl Shift
Enter

If done correctly, the value will be displayed and the
text in the EditBar
will look like this:
{=MIN(VALUE(A1:A10))}
Note the curly brackets.

Troy

"Steff_DK "
wrote in message
...
I want to check a range for available serial numbers.

The numbers run from 1001 and up, but as the cases
close, some might
become available again.

E.g. 1004 could be deleted from the range (becoming
available again)
while 1005 and so on is still taken...

How do I check the range "case" for lowest available
number starting at
1001, and return it as an integer?

Thanks


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