I have some numbers in a column and I want to take the average of the last
five. If my numbers are in A1:A10 I know I can use the AVERAGE function:
AVERAGE(A6:A10). But the problem is that some of the cells are empty.
What I want to do is take the average of the last five cells in a column, so
long as those cells have numbers in them. So if cell A7, for example, is
empty, I would average A5:A10. If A7 and A8 are empty, I would average
A4:A10. Is there any way that this is possible?

Here is a solution that Peo Sjoblom posted last year

=AVERAGE(A65535:INDEX(A1:A65535,SUMPRODUCT(LARGE(R OW(1:65535)*(A1:A65535<""
),C1))))

C1 is a cell containing the number of cells to average, 5 in your case

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"Warrior Princess" wrote in message
...
I have some numbers in a column and I want to take the average of the last
five. If my numbers are in A1:A10 I know I can use the AVERAGE function:
AVERAGE(A6:A10). But the problem is that some of the cells are empty.
What I want to do is take the average of the last five cells in a column,
so
long as those cells have numbers in them. So if cell A7, for example, is
empty, I would average A5:A10. If A7 and A8 are empty, I would average
A4:A10. Is there any way that this is possible?

Thank you!

"Bob Phillips" wrote in message
...
Here is a solution that Peo Sjoblom posted last year


=AVERAGE(A65535:INDEX(A1:A65535,SUMPRODUCT(LARGE(R OW(1:65535)*(A1:A65535<""
),C1))))

C1 is a cell containing the number of cells to average, 5 in your case

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"Warrior Princess" wrote in message
...
I have some numbers in a column and I want to take the average of the
last
five. If my numbers are in A1:A10 I know I can use the AVERAGE function:
AVERAGE(A6:A10). But the problem is that some of the cells are empty.
What I want to do is take the average of the last five cells in a
column,
so
long as those cells have numbers in them. So if cell A7, for example, is
empty, I would average A5:A10. If A7 and A8 are empty, I would average
A4:A10. Is there any way that this is possible?

One way:

=AVERAGE(OFFSET(A10,,,LARGE(IF(A1:A10<"",ROW(1:10 )),5)-
ROWS(A1:A10)-1))

While it works fine, the only downside is that OFFSET is
a volatile function. INDEX should be the preferred
function.

HTH
Jason
Atlanta, GA


-----Original Message-----
I have some numbers in a column and I want to take the
average of the last
five. If my numbers are in A1:A10 I know I can use the
AVERAGE function:
AVERAGE(A6:A10). But the problem is that some of the
cells are empty.
What I want to do is take the average of the last five
cells in a column, so
long as those cells have numbers in them. So if cell A7,
for example, is
empty, I would average A5:A10. If A7 and A8 are empty, I
would average
A4:A10. Is there any way that this is possible?


.