Thanks Charles. Please give me the URL for your website.

Just to clarify: I use naming in order to avoid having to reserve cells for
multiple arrays; each array is from external data whose file & cell location
is calculated from arguments in a particular row. (Therefore, the named
formula uses relative row references).

It is by entering this named formula as an array (by pressing
ctrl-shift-enter in the "Refers to" field of Define Name dialog box) that I
hoped to save calculation time. But perhaps I had a misconception here. Can
you tell me how and when using ctrl-shift-enter in a cell will help reduce
calculation time? For example, suppose A1:A10000 contain the values 1, 2, 3,
4, etc. In another cell, I type =AVERAGE(A1:A10000). Will it help to press
ctrl-shift-enter instead of just enter? Now suppose that the reference is
made using the INDIRECT function. Will it help to press ctrl-shift-enter?

Another question: if a name corresponds to a formula, is the formula
recalculated for each instance of the name's use, or is it recalculated once
(or once per row, for an absolute-column/relative-row formula) each time I
press F9? If the former, how do I get it to do the latter?

"Charles Williams" wrote:

A name can be
- an array of constants
- a range
- any valid formula or array formula (both could include ranges, functions
and arrays of constants)

entering the name definition using ctrl-shift-enter is not required.

Using Names will NOT usually decrease calculation time and in many cases
will actually increase it.

see my website for a lot of material on how to reduce calculation time

Charles
______________________
Decision Models
FastExcel 2.3 now available
Name Manager 4.0 now available
www.DecisionModels.com

"hmm" wrote in message
...
I defined a name that was equated to an array of values returned by a
function. After typing the definition, I tried pressing ctrl-shift-enter.
The function works properly, but I don't see the definition in braces {}
when selecting the name (in the Define Name dialog box).

Can a name be entered as an array? Reducing calculation time is the name
of
the game here.