Using an Array Formula to Find and Count the Maximum Text Occurrences in a Range

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A week ago Tarun asked a question on the Chandoo.org Forums.

“I have got multiple names in each row and would like to have what name is repeated maximum number of times and how many times?

Eg. Ram, Amita, Obama, Ram, Willi, Ram, Amita, Chandoo, Ram, Willi

Ans: Ram (4 times)”

(The list and answers are edited)

Chandoo responded with a neat Array Formula:

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))  &

” (“&MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2))&” times)”

Lets take a look inside this and see how it works

 

THE EXAMINATION

The formula has two parts separated by a &

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))

and

&

and

” (“&MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2))&” times)”

Each part is separate and can be used independently, the & character simply joins the two parts together to make a single string which answers Tarun’s question, Ram (4 times).

Now, lets look at each part.

You can follow along with this forensic examination by downloading the Sample Data File.

 

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))

This is a single Index Function with 2 components, being:

a Range B2:K2 and

a Count  MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0)

Typically an Index Function uses 3 components

=Index(Array, Row Number,[Column Number])

In this example the Range is a single Row, B2:K2

And so using the Counter in the Row spot has the effect of counting down the first Column and then continuing at the top of the second Column etc

So the formula used:

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))

Is equivalent to:

=INDEX(B2:K2,1,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))

 

Now lets jump ahead to the COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2) bit

If you copy =COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2) to a cell, Press F2 and then evaluate the Formula using F9

You will see that it returns an array. The array is highlighted by the squiggly brackets {  } ‘s

={4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2}

This is the heart of the solution.

What this is showing us is that for each position in the range B2:K2, the count of how many times that cells value occurs in the range B2:K2

So the formula

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)), COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2),0))

Is equivalent to

=INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(MAX({4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2}), {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2},0))

Looking at the MAX({4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2}) part, this simplifies to 4, the Maximum value of the array (Remember this line, we’ll come back to it later).

So our simplified formula is now: =INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(4, {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2},0))

Now looking at the MATCH(4, {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2},0) part of the equation

You can see that Match is looking for the value 4, in the array {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2}, which is the First value , Position 1, the 0 requesting that an exact match is found.

So that MATCH(4, {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2},0) is equivalent to 1

So our equation =INDEX(B2:K2,MATCH(4, {4,2,1,4,2,4,2,1,4,2},0))

Is now simplified even more to =INDEX(B2:K2, 1)

Index will then look in B2:K2 and will return the first cell or “Ram” in this example.

 

& “(” & MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)) & ” times)”

The second part of the equation is responsible for counting the number of Times Ram occurs and displaying it with some text.

& “(” & MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)) & ” times)”

The parts displayed in Red above add the text ( and times) to the Count

Remember the section MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)) which was explained above and evaluates to 4 in this case

So the & “(” & MAX(COUNTIF(B2:K2,B2:K2)) & ” times)”

Part evaluates to: ( 4 times)

With the initial & adding it to the text of the first part Ram for the final result – Ram ( 4 times)

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT ARRAY FORMULAS

You can learn more about Array Formulas at the following links:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ArrayFormulas.aspx

http://www.databison.com/index.php/excel-array-formulas-excel-array-formula-syntax-array-constants/

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/introducing-array-formulas-in-excel-HA001087290.aspx

 

Chandoo.org has several articles on Array Formulas

http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/array-formulas/

 

FORENSIC FORMULAS

Would you like to see more “Forensic” examination of complex formulas ?

Let us know in the comments below and it may become a regular section at Chandoo.org.

 

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26 Responses to “FIFA Worldcup Excel Spreadsheets [Roundup]”

  1. J. J. says:

    Nice roundup! Do you know of any one-page spreadsheets which will be updated by an administrator after each game? Would be nice to be able to print out the latest results whenever I feel like checking them as I probably won't be following closely every day.

    I actually haven't tried any of the above ones yet, but I thought I'd mention this one that I found which makes a nice one-page form you can fill in dynamically. http://exceltemplate.net/sports/world-cup-2010-schedule-and-scoresheet/

  2. Diego Garcia says:

    I would like to recommend you these one: http://www.anotagol.com/
    You can choose your interface language (english, spanish, italian, portuguese, german or french) and your country for the timezone of match. I like it very much.

  3. [...] Passend zu gerade laufenden Fußball-WM gibt es auf Chandoo.org alles wissenswerte über Excel-Anwendungen für den Fußball-Fan. [...]

  4. Rohit1409 says:

    Great!!!

    I strongly recommend this :

    http://www.en.excel-soccer-2010.de/downloads

    Chandoo how you found this ...

  5. Chandoo says:

    @Rohit.. really beautiful file. I missed it during my research. Now, I recommend it. 🙂

  6. Mourad Louha says:

    Hi Chandoo - thanks for the recommandation 🙂 - Regards

  7. [...] Excel, then print it on the other side of your Match Schedule from step 2 above. There are several other Excel spreadsheet templates you can download, but this is probably the only one-page version you can find; plus, it [...]

  8. Robert says:

    Does anybody know how to re-create this(?): http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html
    ...or do you know where a template can be found? I am DYING to have something like this on my site. When I found it, I had been looking for the longest time for a circular calendar. I found a couple that weren't adequate. Then I stumbled upon this one and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. If anyone can lead me in the right direction, I would be eternally grateful!

    Thanks in advance!
    Robert

  9. Chandoo says:

    @Robert...

    Doing something like that is a lot of work. You can probably get it done with some hired help from a flash developer.

  10. Pedro Wave says:

    @Robert, the World Cup flash in the Spanish Marca newspaper is impresive, but not much as my own animated spreadsheet with the Goals of 2010 World Cup South Africa in Excel that I just published into my blog:
    http://pedrowave.blogspot.com/2010/06/goals-of-2010-world-cup-south-africa-in.html

    Download from here:
    http://cid-6b219f16da7128e3.office.live.com/view.aspx/.Public/Goals%20South%20Africa%20Animated.xlsx

    And start to enter the goals of the rest of matches.

  11. Neil says:

    Has anyone seen, or made, a Spreadsheet where you can record the scorers and see a 'top scorers' chart. Would be a nice enhancement

  12. Chandoo says:

    @Neil... checkout this one http://www.inflexionary.com/sports/world-cup-2010-excel

    it uses macros to fetch scores from web (and provides very comprehensive analysis too)

    @All.. Thanks for the comments. I have updated the post with few more links now.

  13. Sergio Mathias says:

    Hi,
    Check this dashboards too:
    http://dashboards.org/world-cup-dashboards-and-visualizations/
    😉

  14. [...] Here is a collection of FIFA World Cup Spreadsheets if you are more in to that sort of thing. | [...]

  15. [...] Cup fever is here!In FIFA Worldcup Excel Spreadsheets Roundup, Chandoo has some links to useful World Cup tracking workbooks. Only one of them (the first one) [...]

  16. [...] World Cup fever is here!In FIFA Worldcup Excel Spreadsheets Roundup, Chandoo has some links to useful World Cup tracking workbooks. Only one of them (the first one) [...]

  17. Hey, you missed ours! It has everything you need and more, but not a whole pile of silly extras (National Anthems, etc).  I'll be making another one for the 2014 world cup.  We had over 4000 hits on it!

  18. Neil says:

    @Michael Harwood.

    Where is it then? You should have posted a link  

  19. phillip says:

    Sie sollten an einem Wettbewerb teil zu nehmen für einen der besten Blogs im Web. Ich werde empfehlen Sie diese Seite!
    Google translation: You should take part in a contest for one of the best blogs on the web. I will recommend this site!

  20. [...] and welcome to the forum, Maybe these similar spreadsheets might give you a few initial ideas: FIFA Worldcup Excel Spreadsheets [Roundup] | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online If you have specific areas / formulae / layout choices for parts of your spreadsheet that you are [...]

  21. Petros says:

    Calling all football fans around the globe! The biggest football festival will kick off on the 12th June 2014 and everyone is placing their bets of who will have the honour of lifting the golden trophy.

    Use our free interactive Excel templatel to predict the World cup finalists ! No macros !

    http://www.spreadsheet1.com/world-cup-2014-free-excel-prediction-template.html

  22. marten says:

    I also made a Worldcup-tracker, with MS Access, which can also generate reports in Excel
    e.g. a match-schedule with locations on y-axis and dates on x-axis, see:
    http://worktimesheet2014.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/excel-with-match-schedule-for-2014-fifa.html
    and:
    http://worktimesheet2014.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/match-access-app-to-track-world-cup.html

  23. Vivek Ranjan says:

    where can i find raw data in excel file format of fifa world cups (1930-2014)

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