Between Formula in Excel [Quick Tips]

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In today’s quick tip, lets find how to check for between conditions in Excel using formulas, like this:

Between Formula - Testing for between condition in Excel

Between Formula in Excel for Numbers:

Lets say you have 3 values in A1, A2 and A3. And you want to find out if A1 falls between A2 and A3.

Now, the simplest formula for such a thing would be test whether the conditions A1>=A2, A1<=A3 are both true. Hence, it would look like,
=if(AND(A1>=A2,A1<=A3),"Yes", "No")

However, there are 2 problems with a formula like above:

1. It assumes that A2 is smaller than A3.
2. It is just too big.

Shouldn’t there be a shorter and simpler formula?!?

Well, there is. Last week when chatting with Daniel Ferry, he mentioned a darned clever use of MEDIAN formula to test this. It goes like,

=if(A1=MEDIAN(A1:A3),"Yes","No")

Now, not only does the above formula look elegant and simple, it also works whether A2 is smaller or larger than A3.

Between Formula in Excel for Dates:

Well, dates are just numbers in Excel. So you can safely use the technique above to test if a given date in A1 falls between the two dates in A2 and A3, like this:
=if(A1=MEDIAN(A1:A3),"Yes","No")

Between Formula for Text Values:

Lets say you want to find-out if the text in A1 is between text in A2 and A3 when arranged alphabetically, a la in dictionary. You can do so in Excel using,

wait for it…

that is right, <= and >= operators, like this:
=if(AND(A1>=A2,A1<=A3),"Yes", "No")

Between Formulas in Excel – Summary and Examples:

Here is a list of examples and the corresponding Excel Formulas to test the between condition.

Between Formula in Excel - Examples

Do you check for Between Conditions in Excel?

Checking if a value falls between 2 other values is fairly common when you are working with data. I would love to know how you test for such conditions in excel? What kind of formulas do you use?

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13 Responses to “Using pivot tables to find out non performing customers”

  1. David Onder says:

    To avoid the helper column and the macro, I would transpose the data into the format shown above (Name, Year, Sales).  Now I can show more than one year, I can summarize - I can do many more things with it.  ASAP Utilities (http://www.asap-utilities.com) has a new experimental feature that can easily transpose the table into the correct format.  Much easier in my opinion.

    David 

    • Chandoo says:

      Of course with alternative data structure, we can easily setup a slicer based solution so that everything works like clockwork with even less work.

  2. Martin says:

    David, I was just about to post the same!
    In Contextures site, I remember there's a post on how to do that. Clearly, the way data is layed out on the very beginning is critical to get the best results, and even you may thinkg the original layout is the best way, it is clearly not. And that kind of mistakes are the ones I love ! because it teaches and trains you to avoid them, and how to think on the data structure the next time.
     
    Eventually, you get to that place when you "see" the structure on the moment the client tells you the request, and then, you realized you had an ephiphany, that glorious moment when data is no longer a mistery to you!!!
     
    Rgds,

  3. JMarc says:

    Chandoo,
    If the goal is to see the list of customers who have not business from yearX, I would change the helper column formula to :  =IF(selYear="all",sum(C4:M4),sum(offset(C4:M4,,selyear-2002,1,columns(C4:M4)-selyear+2002)))
     This formula will sum the sales from Selected Year to 2012.

    JMarc

  4. Elias says:

    If you are already using a helper column and the combox box runs a macro after it changes, why not just adjust the macro and filter the source data?
     
    Regards

  5. RichW says:

    I gotta say, it seems like you are giving 10 answers to 10 questions when your client REALLY wants to know is: "What is the last year "this" customer row had a non-zero Sales QTY?... You're missing the forest for the trees...
    Change the helper column to:
    =IFERROR(INDEX(tblSales[[#Headers],[Customer name]:[Sales 2012]],0,MATCH(9.99999999999999E+307,tblSales[[#This Row],[Customer name]:[Sales 2012]],1)),"NO SALES")
    And yes, since I'm matching off of them for value, I would change the headers to straight "2002" instead of "Sales 2002" but you sort the table on the helper column and then and there you can answer all of your questions.

  6. Kevin says:

    Hi thanks for this. Just can't figure out how you get the combo box to control the pivot table. Can you please advise?
     
    Cheers

  7. Kevin says:

    Thanks Chandoo. But I know how to insert a combobox, I was more referring to how does in control the year in the pivot table? Or is this obvious?  I note that if I select the Selected Year from the PivotTable Field List it says "the field has no itens" whereas this would normally allow you to change the year??
     
    Thanks again

  8. Kevin says:

     
    worked it out thanks...
    when =data!Q2 changes it changes the value in column N:N and then when you do a refreshall the pivottable vlaues get updated 
     
    Still not sure why PivotTable Field List says “the field has no itens"?? I created my own pivot table and could not repeat that.

  9. Bermir says:

    Hi, I put the sales data in range(F5:P19) and added a column D with the title 'Last sales in year'. After that, in column D for each customer, the simple formula

    =2000+MATCH(1000000,E5:P5)

    will provide the last year in which that particular customer had any sales, which can than easily be managed by autofilter.

    • Bermir says:

      Somewhat longer but perhaps a bit more solid (with the column titles in row 4):

      =RIGHT(INDEX($F$4:$P$19,1,MATCH(1000000,F5:P5)),4)

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