Assuming the transaction is list in A2:B500, with SSN's in A and dates in B,
and you create a list of the unique participants in D2:D30, in E2 type this
formula

=MIN(IF($A$2:$A$500=D2,$B$2:$B$500))

You must press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to enter this as an array formula. Copy it
down through E30.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 09:15:05 -0800, billybob1
wrote:

I am trying to find the earliest transaction date for a program participant
with multiple records relating to each participant. For example in a list of
transactions participants are identified by their SSN, there are many
transactions by each participant with the date of each transaction recorded.
I want to find the earliest transaction date by each participant without
sorting the database.