You're welcome. Thanks for the feedback!

Biff

"Elizabeth" wrote in message
...
Biff:
Once again, thank you for your reply.
I had to read your reply many times to fully catch the multiple pieces of
information you were providing. I now understand, & have a copy of this
string in the front of my Excel reference notebook with these pieces of
info
highlighted.
You were very kind to walk me through this - thank you!
Elizabeth


"Biff" wrote:

Hi!

Question 1:

Basically, yes!

Using the formula as an example:

=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:O1),2),IF(A1:O10,A1:O1)))

We're only interested in the elements that are TRUE so we can "ignore"
those
elements that are FALSE. You'll notice that neither IF statement has a
value_if_false argument. If that argument is omitted the default return
is
boolean FALSE.

You can include the value_if_false argument although it's superfluous and
could even cause problems if you don't use the correct type of value. For
instance, let's see what happens using these v_if_f arguments:

=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:E1),2),IF(A1:E10,A1:E1,""), ""))

=MIN({65,"","","",4}) = 4

=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:E1),2),IF(A1:E10,A1:E1,"non e"),"none"))

=MIN({65,"none","none","none",4}) = 4

=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:E1),2),IF(A1:E10,A1:E1,0),0 ))

=MIN({65,0,0,0,4}) = 0

As you can see, using 0 as the v_if_f argument causes an incorrect
result.

Question 2:

No, not ALWAYS. For example:

=MIN({65,FALSE,FALSE,FALSE,4}) = 4

Those FALSEs are not evaluated as 0 because the MIN function ignores
logical
values (booleans).

When using a logical expression that returns a *numeric value*, ANY value
other than 0 evaluates to TRUE and 0 itself evaluates to FALSE. For
example:

=IF(COUNT(A1:E1),"Yes","No") = Yes

In our example in this thread COUNT = 5, so COUNT(A1:E5) evaluates to
TRUE

Put these values in some cells:

A1 = -1
A2 = -0.5
A3 = 0
A4 = 1
A5 = 10
A6 = xx

Then put this formula in B1 and copy down:

=IF(A1,TRUE,FALSE)

Biff

"Elizabeth" wrote in message
...
Biff:
Thank you so much for your thorough reply. Once again I'm humbled by
the
knowledge within these Discussion Groups. May I confirm two things:

1) The non-array syntax of an IF statement is (per Microsoft Help):
IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false). Are you saying that the
syntax of an IF
statement within an array is: IF(logical_test,use_only_true_values)?
In
other words, the IF statement within an array doesn't result in one
value
if
it is true and another value if it is false, but rather determines
whether
each value within the function may continue to the next argument or
not?
If
that's the case, then I've had a huge breakthrough in understanding
your
formula / arrays.

2) Are you saying True always = 1 and False always = 0? (If so, I
probably
should have known that but didn't.)

Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Elizabeth

"Biff" wrote:
=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:O1),2),IF(A1:O10,A1:O1)) )

The columns are numbered from 1 to 256. Column A = 1, column B = 2,
column C
= 3, etc.

Using the MOD function with a divisor of 2, all odd numbered columns
will
return a mod of 1 and all the even numbered columns will return a mod
of
0.
When these mod results are evaluated by the IF function the mods of 1
are
evaluated as TRUE and the mods of 0 are evaluated as FALSE.

So, this expression will return an array of 1's and 0's:

IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:O1),2)

This expression which is testing the values in the range to be greater
than
0 will return an array of TRUEs and FALSEs:

IF(A1:O10

Where both arrays evaluate to TRUE the corresponding value from the
range
array, A1:O1, is passed to the MIN function.

Here's what it would look like using a smaller sample:

A1.....B1.....C1.....D1.....E1
65.....53.....-10.....55......4

IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1),2) = 1
IF(MOD(COLUMN(B1),2) = 0
IF(MOD(COLUMN(C1),2) = 1
IF(MOD(COLUMN(D1),2) = 0
IF(MOD(COLUMN(E1),2) = 1

IF(A10 = TRUE
IF(B10 = TRUE
IF(C10 = FALSE
IF(D10 = TRUE
IF(E10 = TRUE

IF(1,IF(TRUE = A1 = 65
IF(0,IF(TRUE = B1 = FALSE
IF(1,IF(FALSE = C1 = FALSE
IF(0,IF(TRUE = D1 = FALSE
IF(1,IF(TRUE = E1 = 4

=MIN({65,FALSE,FALSE,FALSE,4}) = 4

Biff

"Elizabeth" wrote in message
...
Biff:
I've been puzzling over your suggestion for days. It works, but I
don't
understand it. Would you mind telling me what it is doing? I am
fairly
new
to arrays. I would appreciate your help. Thank you!
Elizabeth

"Biff" wrote:

Hi!

Try this:

Entered as an array using the key combo of CTRL,SHIFT,ENTER:

=MIN(IF(MOD(COLUMN(A1:O1),2),IF(A1:O10,A1:O1)))

Biff

"MichaelC" wrote in message
...
I have an array that is 1 row high by 16 columns wide.
Each cell may contain a positive value, or a zero.

I need a formula to find the "Minimum value that is greater than
zero"
in
columns 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 and 15.

=MIN(A1,C1,E1,G1,I1,K1,M1,O1) will always return the zero value
while I
need the minimum value that is greater than zero.
If I use nested IF functions to exclude zeroes I run foul of the
max
of
7
allowed.
I would greatly appreciate any help and thank you in advance for
any
offered.
MichaelC