The problem with that simple model is that there could be other ways
of forming the number 23. An alternative numbering system would be to
consider the number as a series of 0s and 1s where each digit
represents one of the choices in sequence (starting with cheese). So,
your sandwich would be:

0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

Now, you can actually think of this as being a binary number, which
has an equivalent decimal value of 205. This is unique for that
combination of choices. So, the numbers for each choice would be:

1=white
2=wheat
4=ham
8=turkey
16=roast beef
32=lettuce
64=tomato
128=mayo
256=mustard
512=cheese

You can extend this as far as you need.

Is this something you can work with (or am I barking up the wrong
tree?) ?

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Dec 11, 4:15*pm, Zack wrote:
How do I go about assigning a number to a particular piece of data? To give a
simple example of what I'm trying to do, and what I envision, I'll pretend
I'm building a sandwich.

1=white
2=wheat
3=ham
4=turkey
5=roast beef
6=lettuce
7=tomato
8=mayo
9=mustard
10=cheese

So, someone could come along and build their sandwich,
ham/turkey/tomato/mayo on white bread. Excel would then recognize that
1+3+4+7+8=23
23=The American (the name of the sandwich, which I've already assigned a
variable to)

I'm using the sandwich model because its a lot simpler than what I'm
attempting to do.