Ladies & gentlemen… Excel has a new function. LAMBDA() is the new addition to Excel’s family of functions. Using LAMBDA, we can create custom & reusable functions in Excel.
In this article, learn all about:
- What is LAMBDA()
- How to create LAMBDAs in Excel?
- How to re-use LAMBDAs
- 4 Practical Examples of LAMBDA
- What are LAMBDA helper functions?
- Sharing LAMBDAs with others
- How LAMBDA compares with other custom function options in Excel?
LAMBDA - Who can use it?
LAMBDA() and other lambda helper functions are available in below formats of Excel only.
- Excel 365
- Excel on the Web
- iOS & Android Excel
If you are using an older version of Excel (Excel 2019 / 2016…) then you can test and practice LAMBDA from Excel on the web. Just go to https://excel.new
What is LAMBDA & How to create it?
LAMBDA (pronounced lam-duh) allows us to write our own functions and add them to the library.
For example, here is a very simple LAMBDA to subtract one value from another.
=LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)
To call this LAMBDA, you can use the below syntax.
=LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)(90, 12)
' The result will be 78
Here is a quick demo of our subtraction LAMBDA…
How to use LAMBDA in Excel - Video
I made a video about LAMBDAs. Please watch the video for a bit more explanation and demos. (Watch on Youtube).
How to "install" & "reuse" LAMBDA?
The TRUE Power of LAMBDA is unleashed once you “install” or “setup” them. To install out subtract lambda,
- Go to Formulas ribbon and click on “Define Name”.
- Type a name for the lambda, such as subtract
- In the “Refers to:” area of the name, type your lambda. For ex:
- =LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)
- Click OK.
- That is all. Our SUBTRACT LAMBDA is setup.
To call the lambda, just go to any cell and type the =subtract formula and provide parameters a & b as you normally would.
How awesome is that. 🤩
Here is a quick demo of the LAMBDA setup process.
Practical Examples of LAMBDA
Let’s be honest. No one needs the SUBTRACT function. We can already do that with the – (minus) operator. So in this part of the article, let me present some practical LAMBDAs.
Calculating weighted averages is a pain in Excel. There is no built-in function to do the task. Well, we can make our own WAVERAGE() function, thanks to LAMBDA().
Define WAVERAGE name as
=LAMBDA(values, weights, SUMPRODUCT(values, weights)/ SUM(weights))
Here is how you can use it to correctly calculate weighted average of salaries.
Let’s say you have a list of values and just want to get the “topn” values in descending order. We can set up a LAMBDA to do that magic.
Define TOPN name as
=LAMBDA(values, n, LARGE(values, SEQUENCE(n)))
We can call this LAMBDA like:
=TOPN(a1:a10, 3) to see top 3 values in the range A1:A10.
Excel has the excellent TODAY() function to tell me what is the current date. But there is no TOMORROW()?
Let’s fix that with LAMBDA.
Define the name tomorrow as,
=LAMBDA(TODAY()+1)
And, you can call it by writing =TOMORROW() in any cell. Works like magic…
You can write complex Date logic to figure that out. But who wants to write the same formulas every time. This is the job for LAMBDA.
Define FirstMonday as,
=LAMBDA(anydate,
LET(som, DATE(YEAR(anydate),MONTH(anydate),1), CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(som),1,0,6,5,4,3,2)+som))
And to get the first Monday of any month, you can use =FIRSTMONDAY(any date)
For example, =FIRSTMONDAY(“1-jan-2022”) will be 3-Jan-2022 (which is the first monday).
What are LAMBDA "helper" functions...?
Apart from LAMBDA, Microsoft also introduced a bunch of helper functions so we can truly build any kind of LAMBDAs in Excel.
These are,
- MAP – to map (or apply) a LAMBDA to a range of values and return a range of outputs.
- REDUCE – to take a bunch of values (or lambda outputs) and reduce them to a single value
- SCAN – Returns intermediate results of applying a lambda on an array – one step at a time.
- MAKEARRAY – gives you an array of specific size (rows by columns) by applying the lambdas
- BYCOL – applies a lambda function to a range, one column at a time and returns a row of outputs.
- BYROW – revers of BYCOL…
Read more about the LAMBDA Helper functions here.
How to "share" LAMBDAs with others?
By default, any LAMBDA you create is only available in the workbook. To share LAMBDAs across files or with other users, you can try:
- Simpler option: Email or share the files with others. When they open the file, they can see & use the LAMBDAs in that file or copy paste the names to their own files.
- Better option: You can use the newly added “Advanced Formula Editor” to share and centrally publish lambdas (with Github). This is for advanced users only. You can get the add-on here.
Download - Excel LAMBDA Examples
Click here to download sample workbook with 4 LAMBDAs. Play with the functions or make your own.
How does LAMBDA compare with UDFs?
Seasoned users of Excel know that we already have the ability to create and share our own functions. It is called user defined functions (or UDFs).
Here are some points on how UDFs compare with LAMBDA.
- UDFs rely on VBA (or add-ins). If you disable the add-in or don’t load the VBA code, then the UDF won’t work.
- LAMBDAs are part of core Excel, so they will run without any permission or loading.
- UDFs are easy to share, but LAMBDAs have no such option yet.
- UDFs work in all desktop versions of Excel. LAMBDA is on available in Excel 365 but they also work on Excel on Web & on apps.
- UDFs let you access Visual Basic object model (restricted) and do things on your spreadsheet that are not possible with formulas (for ex: extract comment in a cell or find the color of a cell).
Learn more about LAMBDA in Excel...
For more information about LAMBDA, please read below pages too:
36 Responses to “Visualizing Financial Metrics – 30 Alternatives”
Although I am one of the contestants, I must wholeheartedly admit that the Dashboard of Chandeep is the best of all. It's design, colors, message-conveying is the greatest. My regards!
I would like to learn how Chandeep highlighted the graph when he made a selection on the slicer.
Any links to previous posts perhaps where this was covered by Chandoo?
Thank You
Ahmad
Dashboard from Abhay simply rocks. To the point and conveys the intended message even for a novice.
Infographic by Pinank - is looking good
I have also contributed to this contest. I am really inspired by various entries in above post. Based on following parameters i would like to rate these:
1. Explanatory - Whether dashboard will be used to explain certain thing or mention a story. This type of dashboard will be static.
2. Exploratory - Here user would like to interact more with the dashboard to extract the relevant story or meaning which is not apparent. Hence, this type dashboard needs to have more interactivity.
3. Scalability - If new or more data can be added to dashboard and still the functionality will work. If user wants to add more companies, years, etc. will it work.
Based on above criteria I would rate following entries as top ones:
1. Explanatory - by Pinank
2. Exploratory - by Chandeep
3. Scalability - In most of the entries additional work would be required to include more data except for mine. new years or companies can be easily added and analysed in chart by me.
These entries are really inspiring i will definitely use it to revise my dashboard.
Abhay's dashboard is good however, if Chandeep can go with the trend analysis Abhay has done (line graphs), then maybe Chandeep's dashboard can excel.
And now I'm angry that I haven't noticed contest announcement earlier and I've sent what I've sent... Building a dashoboard was supposed to be my goal but lack of time forced me to sent sth simplier and now I can see how big mistake it was (when it comes to fighting a competition like this). Nice work guys! It's realy inspiring! Even less advanced works are intresting because of different task approach. So wance again: thanks 🙂
If I had to choose the best ones (IMHO) I would go for William and Edouard as a second place (for both). Despite some weak sides (like label errors or "work place" next to a final chart) they meet my sense of clear data visualisation and contain intresting interactive elements.
The best entry is definitly Chandeep's. Although there was some failing with automatical comenting feature (#arg! in my Excel'10) it's full of advanced dashboarding tricks which makes it easy to read. Furthermore, as one of the few he finished(?) his project - it opens in a "secured mode", with no place to mess anything, no data trash - just choose, point and read/print.
It all deserves to get the Grand Prize!
and BTW: when can we expect another contest? 🙂
Big round of applause to everyone who participated. I'm amazed at the creativity of our community. 🙂
My vote would be for Chandeep, MF Wong, and Miguel.
I have not contributed, but have read this post with a lot of interest. I would like to congratulate all participants for there work & inventiveness.
My #1 spot goes to Gerald for showing all the data in 1 graph & to have still kept it simple & readable.
I would give a prize for innovation to Pinank for the use of icons.
Great to see so much creativity.
I have not contributed also, but have wait his post for a long time (because I have the same kind of issue in my "daily life").
My top 3 is the following :
- Pinank for the effeiciency and for the style
- Arnaud for the calculation behind the chart
- Miguel for the elegant business oriented dashboard
All the entries look very good. However I feel Pinanks entry seems the best as it is very explanatory with good innovative thoughts.
Hi all,
Some brilliant dashboard and interactive entries - really nice stuff and lots of clever tricks.
However, given that the initial question was "Need to quickly visualize 3 variables ( Company, years, Financials) in a single […] chart", unfortunately I don't think any dashboards - as cool as they are - really answer that question. The interactives also assume that this will be opened in Excel rather than seen in a printed hand-out, which essentially means you'd need multiple charts to show all the variables or be limited to a computer screen. Even Chandoo's initial panel chart approach - which is static, and also very simple and clean - is not really a 'single chart'. Furthermore, most of the interactives don't actually show all variables at once but rather slice the data into more manageable chunks, which is not staying true to the original brief.
So, in light of the above, I'd vote for Gerald in first place, Edwin in second and finally my third chart option in third place (yes, I know, voting for yourself is poor form but unfortunately I think the original question disqualifies most of the entries).
Anyway, a fun competition and thanks for following up on this Chandoo.
I am once again in awe of the submittals to a Chandoo contest. The results are so impressive. I have been trying to build nice dashboards for years and take so many courses, but I don't seem to have the eye for design. The color choices, fonts and chart choices are so important and I'm amazed at how some people really have a great talent for making the best selections.
It's nice to have such quality inspiration!
I saw Chandeep's entry on his website and I must say that I was very impressed by it. Simply loved it. Somewhat makes it difficult to keep an open mind towards the other entries.
My ranking:
1. Chandeep for its completeness as dashboard.
2. MF Wong/Miguel for "simple" but smart graphs.
3. Pinank's entry looks like a page from a glossy magazine.
During scrolling I stopped at Chirayu's entry: easy to the eye.
But honestly congrats too all for having the balls to participate and thank you for sharing your creativity!! Hat's off to you.
Miguel, MF Wong, and Pinank.
Thanks to Chandoo and everyone who contributed for the great ideas.
Hi,
I personally liked the dashboard of:
1. Chandeep - His dashboard is clear, crisp and informative, his color combination and design is awesome, also he has shared few details like operating leverage plus he has added few comments. In totality, its a complete packaged dashboard.
2. Miguel - His dashboard is simple and all the information is visible in one shot.
It's very interesting looking through these - you can definitely tell who's done courses in dashboard design and with whom!
I particularly liked Pawels 'sperm chart' 😉 ... squint your eyes - you'll see what I mean). each of the charts or dashboards are put together well - but I agree with Elchin on this one - Chandeeps dashboard set 'tells a story' of the data. Student of Mr Few??
Without a doubt, Chandeep deserves #1. #2 goes to Abhay, and #3 to Pinhank, for the great presentation style if nothing else.
MF Wong
Do not apologize for any delay! Moving from one town to the next only 10 miles away is tough enough - let alone a family moving from one country to another!
THANK YOU for this excellent post!
As one of the participants, I have been looking forward to this post for long. But totally understood the reason of delay, so never mind! Hope all is well in NZ.
Thank you very much to those who like my chart! 🙂
Also thanks Chandoo for suggesting a name for it "Container Chart", which I have never thought about.
Personally I like the infographic by Pinank. Very outstanding design and use of icons. My two-cent worth: Just the lower part of "Yearly Trend" is actually good enough to answer the question, isn't it? 😉
Cheers,
What an outburst of creativity!
Vote for Chandeep and Pinank!
Agreed!
Awesome dashboards
Infographic by Pinank is awesome
Thank you so much for sharing!! i learn so much from these posts
Highly appreciated
Ahmad
South Africa
Fantastic responses from all the contestants. Some really great ideas. I'm inspired and will adapt some of these to my own dashboard work. Thanks for hosting such a great contest!!
Thank you for sharing this valuable resources !!!
I have only a couple of question that wasn't able to solve regarding data-origin.
Nowadays I have the data coming from a "current" situation from a big database containing all kind purchase-orders information of many different projects. I can calculate the current status of each project investments, but I am not able to track automatically the progress of it month to month or week to week by freezing the calculated metrics on each date. This would let me calculate new graphs and the speed of investments execution.
My question would be, if it is possible to calculate something with an excel formula and automatically freeze this values in a new row or new column. I guess that right now, Basic is the only way, but I guess that there could be a function to copy-a-range, insert-range-as-value-only as a new row or a new column or display everything down or left.
This would preserve the excel formulas defined, and add new data, everytime that it is re-calculated.
Any idea?
Great post , loved all chart representation. Congratulations to all participants and winners.
I need updates to this article.
I didn't even realize this got posted. Came across it today. Thanks
Fantastic post but I was wondering if you could write
a litte more on this subject? I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a
little bit further. Thank you!
Hi Chandoo,
I comeback after a long time on your Blog. So I saw it lately. Its a brilliant idea.
I like all entries and these are amazing efforts from all participants.
Regards
The report presented by Pinanik is excellent and very innovative. Could be an interesting work for portfolio presentation