About a month ago, Fred, asked a question at the Chandoo.org Forums:
“I have 2 formulae one using sumif and the other one using sumproduct. Both get the same correct answer but they look a bit too long to me and I can’t find a shorter way to express.
basically I need to find out the sales volume by names and I have names on columns W, AA and AC. There are sales figures on columns Z, AB and AD that goes respectively to the name columns.
Here are my formulae. X1 is the name I’d type in to find out the combined sales figures
SUMIF($W$9:$W$136,$X$1,$Z$9:$Z$136)+SUMIF($AA$9:$AA$136,$X$1,$AB$9:$AB$136)+SUMIF($AC$9:$AC$136,$X$1,$AD$9:$AD$136)
vs.
SUMPRODUCT(($W$9:$W$136=$X$1)*($Z$9:$Z$136))+SUMPRODUCT(($AA$9:$AA$136=$X$1)*($AB$9:$AB$136))+SUMPRODUCT(($AC$9:$AC$136=$X$1)*($AD$9:$AD$136))
or do any of you have an even better idea? Any suggestion?”
Haseeb A followed up with a neat solution that used both the Sumproduct() and Sumif() functions and threw in two Offset() functions just for fun, namely:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5})))
Note: the Column Numbers have been altered from the original post
So today at Formula Forensics we will pull apart Haseeb A’s formula and see what makes it tick.
At Formula Forensics you can follow along using a sample file: Download Here – Excel 97-2013
The Problem
First lets look at the data and describe Fred’s problem
Fred wants to add up the values in Columns E, G & J when the preceding Columns B, F & H contain a value which is in cell C1 or “a”
This is shown diagrammatically below:
The solution is 183 = 10+40+60+7+10+14+42
Fred had a Sumproduct based solution:
=SUMPRODUCT(($B$4:$B$9=$C$1)*($E$4:$E$9)) + SUMPRODUCT(($F$4:$F$9=$C$1)*($G$4:$G$9)) + SUMPRODUCT(($H$4:$H$9=$C$1)*($J$4:$J$9))
Which is simply 3 Sumproduct formulas, one for each column pair, with separate criteria in each
Fred also had a Sumif based solution:
=SUMIF(B4:B9,C1,E4:E9)+SUMIF(F4:F9,C1,G4:G9)+SUMIF(H4:H9,C1,J4:J9)
Which similarly is 3 Sumif formulas, one for each column pair, with separate criteria in each
Haseeb A’s solution: =SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5})))
Combines a Sumproduct(), Sumif() and two Offset() functions to do the same as the above two formulas.
It is actually 2 characters longer than Fred’s Sumif’s based formula but this is quickly overcome if further ranges are added.
Hasseb A’s Solution
Haseeb A’s formula
=SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5})))
Is based around the Excel Sumproduct() function.
=SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5}) ) )
As we saw in Formula Forensics 007, Sumproduct, Sums the Products of the included arrays.
In this case there is only a single included array consisting of a Sumif() function and so Sumproduct will simply Sum the values returned from the Sumif() function.
Lets look at the Sumif() function.
SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5}))
The Excel Sumif() function has the following syntax:
In our example: SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}), C1, OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5}))
Range: OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6})
Criteria: C1
Sum_Range: OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5})
This reads as follows: Sum the Range OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5}) when the Range OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}) is equal to the value in cell C1.
What are these OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6}) and OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5}) parts doing ?
Let’s start with: OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6})
The offset function has the following syntax:
In our first Offset() example: OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0,4,6})
Reference: B4:B9
Rows: Blank = Nil or 0
Cols: {0,4,6} is an array of 0, 4 & 6
Height: Not Used (Optional)
Width: Not Used (Optional)
So Offset is taking the Range B4:B9 and offsetting it by the Column values of 0, 4 & 6.
This is the same as saying use:
B4:B9 (Offset 0) = B4:B9
B4:B9 (Offset 4) = F4:F9
B4:B9 (Offset 6) = H4:H9
Similarly in the second Offset function
In our example: OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0,2,5})
Reference: E4:E9
Rows: Blank = Nil or 0
Cols: {0,2,5} is an array of 0, 2 & 5
Height: Not Used
Width: Not Used
So Offset is taking the Range E4:E9 and offsetting it by the Column values of 0, 2 & 5.
This is the same as saying use:
E4:E9 (Offset 0) = E4:E9
E4:E9 (Offset 2) = G4:G9
E4:E9 (Offset 5) = J4:J9
If you don’t believe me that OFFSET(E4:E9,,5) is the same as saying J4:J9
In a spare cell, G28 enter: =COLUMN(OFFSET(E4:E9,,5)) and press Enter
Excel responds with 10, the column number of Column J.
For your information if you enter: =Row(OFFSET(E4:E9,,5))
Excel will return 4, which is the top Left corner of the new Range which now goes from J4:J9
So lets try and put all this together:
The Sumif() part of the formula is the same as using three separate Sumif() formulas, one for each value in the value array part of each offset
It is forced to be evaluated three times because it is in the array component of the Sumproduct function.
We can see how each Sumif part works if we look at each array component separately:
The First array values
In a spare cell G23 enter =SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,0),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,0)) and press Enter
Excel returns 110 which is the value of the three marked cells E4, E7 & E9
The Second array values
In a spare cell G24 enter =SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,4),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,2)) and press Enter
Excel returns 17 which is the value of the two marked cells G6 & G9
The Third array values
In a spare cell G25 enter =SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,6),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,5)) and press Enter
Excel returns 56 which is the value of the two marked cells J5 & J9
Finally summing the three values together (110+17+56) gives 183 which is what the Sumproduct() function does with the three values returned from the Sumif() function.
Extension
You can see that this technique is easy to extend to more than 3 columns by simply adding extra column offsets in the two Offset functions in the formula
=SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(OFFSET(B4:B9,,{0, 4, 6, Col 4, Col 5, Col 6, etc}),C1,OFFSET(E4:E9,,{0, 2, 5, Col 4, Col 5, Col 6, etc})))
Download
You can download a copy of the above file and follow along, Download Here – Excel 97-2013.
Formula Forensics “The Series”
This is the 29th post in the Formula Forensics series.
You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts: Formula Forensic Series
Formula Forensics Needs Your Help
I need more ideas for future Formula Forensics posts and so I need your help.
If you have a neat formula that you would like to share like above, try putting pen to paper and draft up a Post like above or;
If you have a formula that you would like explained, but don’t want to write a post, send it to Hui or Chandoo.
24 Responses
I’d suggest simply using the subtotal function and filtering the data using the Win/Loss column. You get the same results and the formula is more comprehensible.
@John
That is one option.
There are times however when you want to see the whole data table or a filtered subset and still want to produce summary reports against an unfiltered field.
Is there a particular reason why you are using a comma and the unary (–) operator for the second array in the SUMPRODUCT formula? It seems to work the same if you were to string the arrays together using the asterisk (*). The advantage is that SUMPRODUCT treats the entire string of arrays as a single array.
@Mathew
Your correct, There is no difference.
I thought it may have been easier to explain this method.
Is there a way to do this on a large set of data? As in ~100,000 rows? When I try I get an error because the formula becomes too long. It says the max length of a formula is 8,192 characters. Excel 2010.
How do I incorporate a specific text within a cell for the second array. For instance, – -(C7:C13=”Apple”)
when I chose a specific text the formula does not work.
@RB
I am not sure what is the issue as if I use the sample data in the post the following work fine
Count:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)), –(C7:C13=”L”))
Sum:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)),(C7:C13=”L”)*(D7:D13))
You may want to check that there are no leading or trailing spaces in your list of Apples
I should have given a better explanation. Heres my situation. I have a column with cells filled with names like Column 1, Column 2, Pier 1, Pier 2, etc. If the cell just contained Pier and searched for that it works. But because it has other characters in the cell its not recognizing the pier. So how can I extract specific characters of a string of text in this formula?
Hopefully this was a better explanation
Hello-
This formula works pretty well for me except that it slow down excel and prevents some of my macros from working. I was wondering if there was a way to program this in VBA so that excel isn’t always trying to recalculate it. I would like to use a push of a button to get it to run then paste in a cell.
Thanks!
I am trying to sum filtered data in a column, but would want to ignore the negative values in the column. How to go about doing this?
@Akshay
Why not just add a filter to that column to only show the values greater than zero?
The negative values are required for reporting purposes, but their effect on the total is distorting the required output. Please advise.
@Akshay
I’d suggest making a post in the Chandoo.org Forums
http://forum.chandoo.org/
Attach a sample file to simplify the task
I have this working for counting and summing, however, I have a list and for the second array, I need a criteria. That is, I’m looking for b13:b200=”01.??.??” or =left((a1,2) or something like that. These types of criteria matches do not appear to work as I get a blank as a result.
Thanks!
@Bob
As your formula b13:b200=”01.??.??” looks like you are trying to check the first day of the month of the range
What about trying Day(B13:B200)=1
Hai Experts,
i understood this formula well and working fine in MS Excel 2013
but when the same am trying to place in google Spreadsheet it shows error as
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 2014, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
Can anyone please help me how would i get it done in Google Spread sheet
or is there any other formula as a substitute for this.
Thank you very much.
thanks for providing this.. but why does excel keeps on prompting Circular referencing in cell D3?
@Vivek
I don’t know
I just downloaded the file and it is working fine and not showing that error
Goto the Formulas, Calculation Options Tab and check that Calculation is set to Automatic
What version of Excel and Windows are you using ?
I know that this forum is for MS Excel, but I am trying to help someone who is working in Google Sheets. The below formula works in Excel but Google Sheets returns:
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 39000, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
This is the same problem asked by Srichirin above. Does anyone know if there is a formula for Google Sheets that will replicate what MS Excel does?
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($C$6:$C$39500,ROW($C$6:$C$39500)-MIN(ROW($C$6:$C$39500)),,1)),- -($C$6:$C$39500=H1),($D$6:$D$39500))
Trying to find a SUMPRODUCT formula that counts the word Closed by date for the last 7 days in a filtered list.
=COUNTIF(M:M,”>”&TODAY()-7) works ok for unfiltered count Column M contains Closure dates (blank if open) and Column L is Status Open or Closed
@ Terry
Please ask the question at the Chandoo.org Forums
https://chandoo.org/forum/
Please attach a sample file to ensure a quicker more accurate answer
I used this formula and worked like a charm! But, now I’ve been requested to use it but adding not one but two criteria in the same formula. For instance the sum I was doing added negative and positive numbers. I’ve been asked to use the exact same formula but adding that only positive numbers were considered… any idea on how to do this?
How exactly do you do sum filtered cells when two criteria are need not just one?
Thank you so much brother literally I have been struggling since morning to get the sum of the filtered category, however, after reading your blog attentively i got my solution, so thanks a lot once again.