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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11 Responses
Ciao Hui,
Collecting Excel tricks under the title “Notable Excel Websites (Non-MVP) Edition” is a brilliant idea…
Thank you in the name of all The FrankensTeam.
On our site there is a box with a picture and text highlighting:
This is a no-MVP site
we think ourselves “bad boys” a bit 🙂
For those who would like to know why our site is a no-MVP site, enough to click on the link:
http://goo.gl/lxDszY
Thank you again!
Thanks a lot
I really enjoyed this (newsletter). I must admit that I rarely read an Excel newsletter (and I subscribe to quite a few) all the way though, but this grabbed my attention and before I realized it, I was engrossed in it. I must also admit that most of this I don’t understand, yet. But, it excites me when I do learn something new in Excel. I can’t wait to see how much of this I can implement into my (constantly-evolving) ‘House Budget’ & ‘Family Medical’ worksheets that I have developed over the past few years! I sure hope to see more of these type of newsletters in the future! Thanks!
Thanks for doing this Hui! I appreciate being included.
I like Tom’s tip a lot. I posted about a tool I wrote to automate this at http://yoursumbuddy.com/tables-edit-query-dialog/
EXCELLENT !
Hui, This post is Superb! More over I have always been a fan of Roberto’s work and have learnt a lot from him.
Here are some of my recent contributions
1. Customising markers in a chart – http://www.goodly.co.in/customize-markers-in-a-chart/
2. Charting Hacks to work faster – http://www.goodly.co.in/5-charting-hacks-to-help-you-work-faster/
3. 7 Date formulas to make life easy – http://www.goodly.co.in/date-formulas-in-excel/
4. Customised scrollbar using VBA – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
5. Adding Direct Legends – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
Hope everyone enjoys!
I like the Excel Ninja Menus.
1. Select a cell or range then move till the 4-way cross appears. Right-Click and drag the selection to another place in the worksheet then, like a ninja, a menu full of skills and throwing stars pops up allowing me to do all kinds of awesomeness.
2. When you click the fill box on a Date and right click and drag it down, a lot of amazing Date options pop up.
I also brand my Excel to remind myself that I’m awesome. In my personal macro workbook I place the following code.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Application.Caption = “SuperKrishna’s Awesomeness”
End Sub
My favorite tip goes along with #17. If you try to copy subtotaled data (and in earlier Excel versions filtered data),when you paste it all the data displays instead of just the summarized data.
To get around this, select your summarized data, click on Find and Select tab and then select Go to Special. Click Visible cells Only and click OK. Now paste and you will see that only the summarized data has been copied.
You can also go CTRL+G and then click the Special icon at the bottom of the dialog box.
What a great idea, Chandoo! I’d love to be included in your next edition:) Perhaps a VBA exclusive version?
@Ryan
I will review this concept about 6 months out from the original post and be sure to keep your site in mind
Hui…
That sounds great, Hui:) I just realized I gave credit to Chandoo for the idea and I should have attributed it to you.
Sorry about that!