Dave wrote...
This is by way of a small XL grumble.
Every time I want to use Index or Match, I can never remember which is
which, and always have to look it up.
I thought I may be able to apply logic to help me remember. (So naive)
When I use the index in a book, I look up a word (value), in the index
(table), and get given a page number (reference).
Why the heck does XL do the reverse? What good is a book index where you
look up a page number to see what's on it? Am I missing something? Does
anyone else get these two functions mixed up, or am I pathetically alone?

As with most really basic spreadsheet design decisions, don't blame
Microsoft. They only copied. They didn't invent.

Lotus Symphony 1.0 (not the OpenOffice-based product IBM is currently
foisting on the unwary, but the @#$%&*! package Lotus foisted in the
unwary back in the 1980s) introduced the @INDEX function, which they
added to 1-2-3 in Release 2.0. Microsoft copied the function's name
(sans @) and intent but altered its syntax and semantics.

I don't recall whether Lotus or Microsoft introduced the [@]MATCH
function, but whichever one did, the other copied it.