assuming values are in a1,b1,c1 and d1:

=MAX(IF(A1D1,0,A1),IF(B1D1,0,B1),IF(C1D1,0,C1))

"TJAC" wrote:

Let me start with an example of data first...

12 25 2 9 ?

I have 4 columns above. The first three columns are numbers and one of
those needs go into a new column, which would be column 5. In column 5, I
need to know which of the first three columns is the closest match to column
4 without going over. Can a formula be set up like this? This would be in
Excel 2003.

Thanks!
Trisha