Occasionally we deal with data that is so uncooperative that we might as well give up and go back to calculators & ledger books.
Recently I found myself in such a situation and learned something new.
Introducing … data that won’t play nice
Drum roll please. Here is a data-set that I got from somewhere.
The problem – build a lookup formula
And the problem. Oh, simple. Write a lookup formula to find how many customer walk-ins we have on any given day.
But how?
After wrestling with a few variations of VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, OFFSET… I found the right formula for this occasion.
SUMIFS Formula
That’s right, the good old (well, its just 7 years old, born in 2007 Excel) is the one that works in this situation.
Assuming our data is in the range:
- B4:H15
- Even rows (4,6,8…14) containing date
- Odd rows (5,7,9…) containing customer walk-ins
- And lookup date is in L5
We can use this SUMIFS formula:
=SUMIFS(B5:H15,B4:H14,L5)
to find out how many customers walked in to the store on the lookup date.
How does this formula work?
See this illustration.
Since SUMIFS (and SUMIF too) formula works in 2D, our formula works elegantly.
Any caveats?
There are a couple of problems with this formula.
- It works for looking up numbers only
- It doesn’t work if any of the numbers are same as dates we are looking up. For example 15th October 2014 is 41927, so we have a data point that is also 41927, then our SUMIFS result would be wrong.
A better formula?
If you want a formula that works with any type of data, then of course we can come up with one.
That is your home work.
Go ahead and figure it out and share your magic potions in the comments.
Here is a clue: If we cant go somewhere directly, we can go indirectly, if we know the address.
Download Example Workbook
Click here to download the example workbook. Examine the formula in cell L6 to understand how this works.
How do you deal with such data?
Badly shaped data is everywhere. Not a week goes by when I don’t come across poorly structured data. Thanks to Excel, I can alter the shape of almost any data. My favorite techniques are – text import, power query, formulas, pivot tables, remove duplicates & go to special.
What about you? How do you deal with poorly structured data? What tools do you deploy to alter the fitness levels of your data? Please share your thoughts and tips in comments.
Don’t forget about the formula challenge.
Excel not co-operating? Its time you tamed it
Data that is messy, bosses with high expectations, coffee machines that don’t work are everywhere. Fortunately Excel can fix 2 of those 3 problems. (Sorry folks, there is no fixCoffeeMachine() macro, yet.)
Learn a few Excel tricks & concepts and you could be on your way to taming messy data & demanding bosses. Start with these:
26 Responses to “Get busy this weekend, with OR XOR AND [Excel Homework]”
first solution for AND
The two numbers are in A1 and B1
= SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+B1*9*9, 9, 1), 8, 0)
regards
Stef@n
next solution for OR
=1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;1)
regards
Stef@n
last solution for XOR
=1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;0)
regards
Stef@n
Or you could make use of the VBA logical operators!
Define the following as custom functions
Public Function BITXOR(x As Long, y As Long)
BITXOR = x Xor y
End Function
Public Function BITAND(x As Long, y As Long)
BITAND = x And y
End Function
Public Function BITOR(x As Long, y As Long)
BITOR = x Or y
End Function
and then use them such:
A B =BITOR(A,B) =BITAND(A,B) =BITXOR(A,B)
0101 0100 0101 0100 0001
an another solution for AND
=1*SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;1;0);2;1)
note:
the binary numbers are in A1 and A2 !
regards
Stef@n
I was obviously playing hooky at the beach during the bit-wise math lesson – you lost me at “Understanding bit-wise operations” 🙂
After looking at the above solutions, I find my solution silly, but still:
For the following formulae,
Row 1: headers,
Row 2: OR
Row 3: AND
Row 4: XOR
Column 1: Input 1
Column 2: Input 2
Column 3: Result
OR
{=SUM(IF(MID(A2,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A2),1)),1)+MID(B2,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B2),1)),1)>0,1,0)*10^(LEN(A2)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B2),1))))}
AND
{=SUM(IF(MID(A3,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A3),1)),1)+MID(B3,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B3),1)),1)=2,1,0)*10^(LEN(A3)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B3),1))))}
XOR
{=SUM(IF(MID(A4,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A4),1)),1)+MID(B4,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B4),1)),1)=1,1,0)*10^(LEN(A4)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B4),1))))}
@Anup
Please don't consider your solution silly
Firstly, You are the 3rd person to submit an answer
Secondly, The best formula/function is the one that you know and understand.
I think I have a very tedious solution, which people won't have the patience to do except in small numbers.
I used the same problem setup as "Anup Agarwal"
AND =IF(AND(MID(B2,1,1)="1",MID(C2,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,2,1)="1",MID(C2,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,3,1)="1",MID(C2,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,4,1)="1",MID(C2,4,1)="1"),1,0)
OR =IF(OR(MID(B3,1,1)="1",MID(C3,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,2,1)="1",MID(C3,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,3,1)="1",MID(C3,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,4,1)="1",MID(C3,4,1)="1"),1,0)
=IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,1,1)="1",MID(C4,1,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,1,1)="0",MID(C4,1,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,2,1)="1",MID(C4,2,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,2,1)="0",MID(C4,2,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,3,1)="1",MID(C4,3,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,3,1)="0",MID(C4,3,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,4,1)="1",MID(C4,4,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,4,1)="0",MID(C4,4,1)="1")),1,0)
Sorry my last post was totally messed up
AND
=IF(AND(MID(B2,1,1)="1",MID(C2,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,2,1)="1",MID(C2,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,3,1)="1",MID(C2,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,4,1)="1",MID(C2,4,1)="1"),1,0)
OR
=IF(OR(MID(B3,1,1)="1",MID(C3,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,2,1)="1",MID(C3,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,3,1)="1",MID(C3,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,4,1)="1",MID(C3,4,1)="1"),1,0)
XOR
=IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,1,1)="1",MID(C4,1,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,1,1)="0",MID(C4,1,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,2,1)="1",MID(C4,2,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,2,1)="0",MID(C4,2,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,3,1)="1",MID(C4,3,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,3,1)="0",MID(C4,3,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,4,1)="1",MID(C4,4,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,4,1)="0",MID(C4,4,1)="1")),1,0)
@stefan,
I just couldn't get your solutions to work.
01010101010 + 01010101110 = 02020210120
what am i doing wrong?
@anup
...I got yours to work!
@Stephen - I get the same, but Stef@an's second solution for AND does work (at least for the test cases I used)
@ Stephen / Rich
yes , you are right ! - only this works:
OR
=1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;1)
XOR
=1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;0)
AND
=1*SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;1;0);2;1)
@Stef@n - You're answer is really smart, I never knew about the substitute function before. Great Work!
Thx Michael 🙂
yes - it is simply easy 😉
if you add 1 and 1 - excel calculate 2
and then you have to substitute the 2 - new = 0 respectively 1
Here is a good resource for people wanting to learn binary and hexadecimal.
http://justwebware.com/bitwise/bitwise.html
Three that weren't asked for:
NOT
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,3),1,0),3,1)
EQV
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,3),2,3),1,0),3,1)
IMP
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,0,3),1,0),3,1),0,1),2,0)
(was using Daniel Ferry's bitwise file to verify against)
@ Kyle
Not only takes one parameter and inverts 0 -1 and 1-0
Took out the +A2
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,0,3),1,0),3,1)
Great solutions!
I'll add two:
NAND =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2,2,0)
NOR=1*SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,2),1,0),2,1)
This will work for binary numbers of any size (although the text format mask will have to have as many zeroes as there are digits in the longest addend)
Assume binary #s are in C35 & C36, then add and format as text in C37:
=TEXT(C36+C35,"000000000000")
-sum- = 101112211112
AND - SUBSTITUTE 0s for 1s in -sum-, then sub 1s for 2s
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(C37,"1","0"),"2","1")
OR - sub 1s for 2s in -sum-
=SUBSTITUTE(C37,"2","1")
XOR - sub 0s for 2s in -sum-
=SUBSTITUTE(C37,"2","0")
Just wandered by:
AND:
=SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,1,0)/2
Clever, Shane. I like that.
[…] post http://www.excelhero.com/blog/2010/01/5-and-3-is-1.html for examples using Sumproduct, and http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/07/29/bitwise-operations-in-excel/ for examples using Text […]
Hi Chandoo,
I am not (yet) really into bitwise calculation, but I am looking for a way to speed up my vba calculation with very big numbers. Would is ben convenient to use bitwise notation for this?
Best regards,
Ronald (the Netherlands)
p.s. love your country!
@Ronald
I'd suggest asking this in the Chandoo.org Forums
https://chandoo.org/forum/
Attach a sample file with an example of some data and describe what you want to achieve