Hi ,
I'll just post whatever I've done to get the results :
The data is in the range A5:B12 as follows :
Hats .... 3-Feb-11
Hats .... 5-Feb-11
Shoes ... 6-Feb-11
Hats .... 8-Feb-11
Socks ... 13-Feb-11
Shoes ... 19-Feb-11
Shoes ... 20-Feb-11
Socks ... 21-Feb-11
The result table is in the range E14:H17 ; the item names "Hats" , "Shoes" and "Socks" are in the range E15:E17 ; the text values "Earliest" , "Second" , "Latest" are in the range F14:H14.
The formulae are as follows :
F15 : =INDEX($B$5:$B$12,LARGE(ROW($A$5:$A$12)*($A$5:$A$12="Hats"),COUNTIF($A$5:$A$12,"Hats"))-ROW($A$5)+1)
G15 : =INDEX($B$5:$B$12,LARGE(ROW($A$5:$A$12)*($A$5:$A$12="Hats"),2)-ROW($A$5)+1)
H15 : =INDEX($B$5:$B$12,LARGE(ROW($A$5:$A$12)*($A$5:$A$12="Hats"),1)-ROW($A$5)+1)
For "Shoes" and "Socks" , repeat the above formulae with the appropriate changes.
The results are as follows :
3-Feb-11 ..... 5-Feb-11 ..... 8-Feb-11
6-Feb-11 ..... 19-Feb-11 ..... 20-Feb-11
13-Feb-11 ..... 13-Feb-11 ..... 21-Feb-11
Narayan