With headers in Row1, and data in A2 to B7,
try this in C2, and copy down:

=SUMPRODUCT(MIN(((A2=A$2:A$7)*B$2:B$7)+(((A2<A$2: A$7)*B$2:B$7)*99^99)))

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HTH,

RD
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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
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wrote in message
oups.com...
I've searched and I can't find what I am looking for; thanks in
advance for any help given.

Table is as follows:

Column A Column B Column C
Item Date
Cow 11/27/07
Monkey 12/1/07
Orange 11/30/07
Cow 11/15/07
Cow 12/15/07
Monkey 11/19/07

I need a formula that can be put in Column C that will look at the
item in Column A and return the lowest date available from Column B so
the result would be:

Column A Column B Column C
Item Date Arrive
Earliest Avail Date
Cow 11/27/07
11/15/07 (because the 4th instance of "Cow" is
earliest)
Monkey 12/1/07 11/19/07
Orange 11/30/07 11/30/07
Cow 11/15/07
11/15/07
Cow 12/15/07
11/15/07
Monkey 11/19/07 11/19/07



Data must remain unsorted.

Thanks for any help!