A pivot table will get you exactly want you want:

1. pull-down
Data Pivot Table

2. on the layout tab, drag type into the row area and number into the data
area

3. double-click number to change from count of number to max of number

4. ignoring the Grand Total, sum the resulting entries
--
Gary''s Student


"Yossi" wrote:

Hi,
I have a table that features numbers and types. I want to take the maximum
number from each type and sum all the those numbers together.
The types can vary and are not known in advance.

For example look at the following table:

type number
green 1
red 12
box 31
pyramid 2
steel 5
green 10
pyramid 7
green 9
steel 11

I want to get the maximum of each type:
red = 12
green = 10
box = 31
pyramid = 7
steel = 11

and sum them up:
total = 71

Is there any simple way to do it? once again, the types are unknown.

Thanks