When to use a VLookup
 

Hi,

I am an intermediate Excel user who has been asked to learn what a VLookup
does. I read through an "Excel Bible" on the matter and checked the online
help. I can't seem to figure out why it is so valuable. Why not just sort
your records when looking to find or isolate on a value. Can someone tell me
when a VLookup can be more valuable than simply sorting records?

Thanks,
--
Chuck W

When to use a VLookup
 

Hi Chuck,

The Vlookup allows you to retreive data from 2 tables which share a common
field. When I say Data, I mean, in its simplest for, 1 column of data.

Here is an example.

If you have a list of order details with order prices you can Vlookup on the
price to another table which has delivery charges and return the deliver
charge to your order table. If you set the Range Lookup to "True" it will
use the nearest value by rounding down else "False" will look for the exact
value

You can also use it to comapre 2 lists. If you vlookup between the 2 lists
you will get an "#N/A" if the item doesn't appear in the second list

I think your reference to sorting come from the "Range Lookup". If you don't
set it to "False" the data you are looking in must be sorted by the column
your looking up by.

HTH.

Simon

================================================== =======================


ChuckW wrote:
Hi,

I am an intermediate Excel user who has been asked to learn what a VLookup
does. I read through an "Excel Bible" on the matter and checked the online
help. I can't seem to figure out why it is so valuable. Why not just sort
your records when looking to find or isolate on a value. Can someone tell me
when a VLookup can be more valuable than simply sorting records?

Thanks,

--
Message posted via http://www.officekb.com

When to use a VLookup
 

Try this experiment...

Open a new workbook
Hit function key F5
In the reference box type A51:A25050
Hit ENTER
Type this formula: =ROW()-50
Hold down the CTRL key then hit ENTER

Hit function key F5
In the reference box type B51:B25050
Hit ENTER
Type this formula: =25001-A51
Hold down the CTRL key then hit ENTER

Now, using your method, col A is already sorted, find the value from column
B that corresponds to 22222 in column A.

After you've done that scroll back up to cell D51 and enter this formula in
D51:

=VLOOKUP(22222,A:B,2)

Which method is faster?

Now, how would you do this using your method if the data was random and
*could not be sorted* ?

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"ChuckW" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am an intermediate Excel user who has been asked to learn what a VLookup
does. I read through an "Excel Bible" on the matter and checked the
online
help. I can't seem to figure out why it is so valuable. Why not just
sort
your records when looking to find or isolate on a value. Can someone tell
me
when a VLookup can be more valuable than simply sorting records?

Thanks,
--
Chuck W