I have a list of numbers that I need Excel to randomly pick 40 of. I can't
use the RAND function because these numbers don't increment by one all the
time. Any ideas how Excel can give me this list?

Thanks!

One way ..
Assume you have a list of 50 numbers (or whatever items) in A1:A50
Put in C1: =RAND(), copy C1 down to C50
Put in B1: =INDEX(A:A,RANK(C1,$C$1:$C$50))
Copy B1 down to B40, to return 40 non repeating random selections
of the list in A1:A50. If you want the full 50 randomized, copy B1 down to
B50. Press F9 to re-generate
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Rgds
Max
xl 97
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Singapore, GMT+8
xdemechanik
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
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"Cris" wrote in message
...
I have a list of numbers that I need Excel to randomly pick 40 of. I can't
use the RAND function because these numbers don't increment by one all the
time. Any ideas how Excel can give me this list?

Thanks!

Use the list of numbers you have, in an adjacent column put the =RAND()
formula, copy down so all values in the list has an adjacent rand value,
select
both columns and sort by the rand column, select the first 40 values from
the list

--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

(No private emails please)


"Cris" wrote in message
...
I have a list of numbers that I need Excel to randomly pick 40 of. I can't
use the RAND function because these numbers don't increment by one all the
time. Any ideas how Excel can give me this list?

Thanks!