Excel 2010 Fomulas

Chapter 8: Using Lookup Functions 227
The following formula (in cell B4) uses the MATCH function to return the position of the Month
within the MonthList range. For example, if the month is January, the formula returns 2 because
January is the second item in the MonthList range. (The first item is a blank cell, D1.)
=MATCH(Month,MonthList,0)
The formula in cell B5 works similarly but uses the ProductList range:
=MATCH(Product,ProductList,0)
The final formula, in cell B6, returns the corresponding sales amount. It uses the INDEX function
with the results from cells B4 and B5.
=INDEX(Table,B4,B5)
You can, of course, combine these formulas into a single formula, as shown here:
=INDEX(Table,MATCH(Month,MonthList,0),MATCH(Product,ProductList,0))
Another way to accomplish a two-way lookup is to provide a name for each row and
column of the table. A quick way to do this is to select the table and use Formulas➜
Defined Names➜Create from Selection. After creating the names, you can use a simple
formula to perform the two-way lookup, such as
=Sprockets July
This formula, which uses the range intersection operator (a space), returns July sales
for Sprockets. To refer to the cells where the month and product are entered, use
=INDIRECT(Month) INDIRECT(Product)
This formula converts the values in the cells Month and Product into range references and
finds the intersection. See Chapter 3 for details about the range intersection operator.
Performing a two-column lookup
Some situations may require a lookup based on the values in two columns. Figure 8-13 shows an
example.