In today’s quick tip, lets find how to check for between conditions in Excel using formulas, like this:
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.
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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One Response to “SQL vs. Power Query – The Ultimate Comparison”
Enjoyed your SQL / Power Query podcast (A LOT). I've used SQL a little longer than Chandoo. Power Query not so much.
Today I still use SQL & VBA for my "go to" applications. While I don't pull billions of rows, I do pull millions. I agree with Chandoo about Power Query (PQ) lack of performance. I've tried to benchmark PQ to SQL and I find that a well written SQL will work much faster. Like mentioned in the podcast, my similar conclusion is that SQL is doing the filtering on the server while PQ is pulling data into the local computer and then filtering the data. I've heard about PQ query folding but I still prefer SQL.
My typical excel application will use SQL to pull data from an Enterprise DB. I load data into Structured Tables and/or Excel Power Pivot (especially if there's lot of data).
I like to have a Control Worksheet to enter parameters, display error messages and have user buttons to execute VBA. I use VBA to build/edit parameters used in the SQL. Sometimes I use parameter-based SQL. Sometimes I create a custom SQL String in a hidden worksheet that I then pull into VBA code (these may build a string of comma separated values that's used with a SQL include). Another SQL trick I like to do is tag my data with a YY-MM, YY-QTR, or YY-Week field constructed form a Transaction Date.
In an application, I like to create a dashboard(s) that may contain hyperlinks that allow the end-user to drill into data. Sometimes the hyperlink will point to worksheet and sometimes to a supporting workbook. In some cases, I use a double click VBA Macro that will pull additional data and direct the user to a supplemental worksheet or pivot table.
In recent years I like Dynamic Formulas & Lambda Functions. I find this preferable to pivot tales and slicers. I like to use a Lambda in conjunction with a cube formula to pull data from a power pivot data model. I.E. a Lambda using a cube formula to aggregate Accounting Data by a general ledger account and financial period. Rather than present info in a power pivot table, you can use this combination to easily build financial reports in a format that's familiar to Accounting Professionals.
One thing that PQ does very well is consolidating data from separate files. In the old days this was always a pain.
I've found that using SQL can be very trying (even for someone with experience). It's largely an iterative process. Start simple then use Xlookup (old days Match/Index). Once you get the relationships correct you can then use SQL joins to construct a well behaved SQL statement.
Most professional enterprise systems offer a schema that's very valuable for constructing SQL statements. For any given enterprise system there's often a community of users that will share SQL. I.E. MS Great Plains was a great source (but I haven't used them in years).
Hope this long reply has value - keep up the good work.