MDW wrote...
I'm using Excel 2000 Professional, and I'm experimenting with using
the
SUMPRODUCT() function to test for multiple-criterion conditions. In
the
documentation I found, it says that SUMPRODUCT is "an array function,
and is
so committed by pressing Cntl-Shift-Enter".
....

Where the h*ll did you read that? Not from anyone who bothered to read
their keyboard (it's Ctrl, not Cntl). Not from any Microsoft source
since Microsoft's English language online help doesn't use the word
'commit' or any of its derivatives ANYWHERE (try searching for it), and
the sensible people writing Excel's English language documentation use
US conventions, in which 'commit' is a term used for transactional
databases, marriage councelling and psychological evaluations leading
to involuntary custody exclusively.

Anyway, SUMPRODUCT with no function calls in any of its arguments need
not be entered as an array formula (or array-entered). SUMPRODUCT with
most built-in functions in its arguments also need not be entered as an
array formula. IF is the major exception. Excel's IF function is
stupider than nearly all its other built-in functions - the only way it
handles array arguments properly is in array formulas. If you need to
use IF, there's no point using SUMPRODUCT.

My second question - is support for array functions bult into Excel?
I'm
going to be giving this sheet to a bunch of people who have Excel 2000

STANDARD (I have assurances that there's no one on a version earlier
than
2000). Would SUMPRODUCT still work the same way on their PCs? I intend
to
test this myself, but I want to know if there are any special
situations or
circumstances I should check for.

There's no Excel 2000 Professional or Standard. There's only Excel
2000. It's bundled into Office 2000 Professional and Standard (and
possibly others), but the difference between these Office versions is
whether Access is included (Professional) or not (Standard and the
others).

SUMPRODUCT works as I've described above in all Excel versions from
Excel 5/95 on. SUMPRODUCT, LOOKUP and FREQUENCY are the only built-in
functions that seem always to work with derived array arguments in
non-array formulas as long as you avoid certain built-in functions
(like IF). Also, *all* versions of Excel support array formulas.