Formula Forensics 012. – A Neat Formula

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In early February Sujit asked a question at Chandoo.org, original post.

I require a formula stating criteria [0%-25% output will be 0, 26%-50% output will be 0.1, 51%-75% output will be 0.2, 76%-100% output will be 0.3 & 100% + output will be 0.4]

Kyle, responded with a neat Sumproduct formula

=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)

I think it is so neat that it is worthy of sharing and detailing here at Formula Forensics:

So today we will pull Kyle’s answer apart to see what’s inside.

 

Kyle’s Formula

As usual we will work through this formula using a sample file for you to follow along. Download Here.

Kyle’s formula is a Sumproduct based formula

=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)

Lets look at cell C3 as our example.

Chandoo.org;

In C3 we see the formula: =SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)

Which consists of a Sumproduct function and a formula inside the sumproduct.

We know from Formula Forensics 007 that Sumproduct, Sums the Product of the Arrays, and that when there is only 1 array it simply sums the array elements.

In this case the Sumproduct only has a single array as an element

=SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1)

and so the (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1 component must return an Array of elements for the Sumproduct to sum.

If we now look at the (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1 component.

We can see that it consists of a comparison B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}

The result of the comparison is Multiplied by 0.1.

Sujit’s orginal question asked: 0%-25% output will be 0, 26%-50% output will be 0.1, 51%-75% output will be 0.2, 76%-100% output will be 0.3 & 100% + output will be 0.4

And Kyles formula is using B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1} to work out which category the value in B3 belongs to.

We can see this if in a blank cell say C5: we enter the following:

= B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1} press F9 not Enter.

Excel will respond with ={TRUE,TRUE,TRUE,FALSE}

This is showing us that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd elements in the formula: B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}, are True

In our example the value in B3 is 80% which is 0.8 which is Greater than 0.25 and Greater than 0.5 and Greater than 0.75, but Not Greater than 1.0.

The next part of Kyle’s formula is (B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1

In a blank cell say C7: enter the following:

= B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}*0.1 press F9 not Enter.

Excel will respond with ={0.1,0.1,0.1,0}

This is showing us the result of

=(B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1})*0.1

={TRUE,TRUE,TRUE,FALSE} *0.1

={0.1,0.1,0.1,0}

Sumproduct now only has to add up the Array

=Sumproduct({0.1,0.1,0.1,0})

Which it does returning 0.3.

 

The Neat Part

The neat part of this is that Kyle has used the 0.1 Multiplier to Force the array to an array of Numbers for Sumproduct to sum.

Had Kyle used:  =SUMPRODUCT((B3>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1

Excel would have returned an answer of 0

This is because as we saw in Formula Forensics 007, Sumproduct doesn’t know what to do with the array of True/False, they need to be converted to numerical equivalents for Sumproduct to operate on.

In a spare cell, say C9, enter: =SUMPRODUCT((B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1

Excel will respond with 0

Of course that can be fixed by using a double degative of a 1* inside the formula

In a spare cell, say C10, enter either:

=SUMPRODUCT(1*(B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1

or

=SUMPRODUCT(- -(B9>{0.25,0.5,0.75,1}))*0.1

Excel will respond with 0.3 as it should

Except that the formula is longer and now has to do 1 more multiplication.

 

Download

You can download a copy of the above file and follow along, Download Here.

 

Formula Forensics “The Series”

You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts

Formula Forensic Series:

 

We Need Your Help

I have received a few more ideas since last week and these will feature in coming weeks.

I do need more ideas though and so I need your help.

If you have a neat formula that you would like to share and explain, try putting pen to paper and draft up a Post like above or;

If you have a formula that you would like explained but don’t want to write a post also send it to Chandoo or Hui.

 

 

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24 Responses

  1. I’d suggest simply using the subtotal function and filtering the data using the Win/Loss column.  You get the same results and the formula is more comprehensible.

    1. @John

      That is one option.

      There are times however when you want to see the whole data table or a filtered subset and still want to produce summary reports against an unfiltered field.

  2. Is there a particular reason why you are using a comma and the unary (–) operator for the second array in the SUMPRODUCT formula?  It seems to work the same if you were to string the arrays together using the asterisk (*).  The advantage is that SUMPRODUCT treats the entire string of arrays as a single array.

  3. Is there a way to do this on a large set of data? As in ~100,000 rows? When I try I get an error because the formula becomes too long. It says the max length of a formula is 8,192 characters. Excel 2010.

  4. How do I incorporate a specific text within a cell for the second array. For instance, – -(C7:C13=”Apple”)
    when I chose a specific text the formula does not work.

    1. @RB

      I am not sure what is the issue as if I use the sample data in the post the following work fine

      Count:
      =SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)), –(C7:C13=”L”))
      Sum:
      =SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)),(C7:C13=”L”)*(D7:D13))

      You may want to check that there are no leading or trailing spaces in your list of Apples

      1. I should have given a better explanation. Heres my situation. I have a column with cells filled with names like Column 1, Column 2, Pier 1, Pier 2, etc. If the cell just contained Pier and searched for that it works. But because it has other characters in the cell its not recognizing the pier. So how can I extract specific characters of a string of text in this formula?

        Hopefully this was a better explanation

  5. Hello-

    This formula works pretty well for me except that it slow down excel and prevents some of my macros from working. I was wondering if there was a way to program this in VBA so that excel isn’t always trying to recalculate it. I would like to use a push of a button to get it to run then paste in a cell.

    Thanks!

  6. I am trying to sum filtered data in a column, but would want to ignore the negative values in the column. How to go about doing this?

      1. The negative values are required for reporting purposes, but their effect on the total is distorting the required output. Please advise.

  7. I have this working for counting and summing, however, I have a list and for the second array, I need a criteria. That is, I’m looking for b13:b200=”01.??.??” or =left((a1,2) or something like that. These types of criteria matches do not appear to work as I get a blank as a result.
    Thanks!

    1. @Bob

      As your formula b13:b200=”01.??.??” looks like you are trying to check the first day of the month of the range
      What about trying Day(B13:B200)=1

  8. Hai Experts,
    i understood this formula well and working fine in MS Excel 2013
    but when the same am trying to place in google Spreadsheet it shows error as
    “SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 2014, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
    Can anyone please help me how would i get it done in Google Spread sheet
    or is there any other formula as a substitute for this.
    Thank you very much.

    1. @Vivek

      I don’t know

      I just downloaded the file and it is working fine and not showing that error

      Goto the Formulas, Calculation Options Tab and check that Calculation is set to Automatic

      What version of Excel and Windows are you using ?

  9. I know that this forum is for MS Excel, but I am trying to help someone who is working in Google Sheets. The below formula works in Excel but Google Sheets returns:
    “SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 39000, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
    This is the same problem asked by Srichirin above. Does anyone know if there is a formula for Google Sheets that will replicate what MS Excel does?

    =SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($C$6:$C$39500,ROW($C$6:$C$39500)-MIN(ROW($C$6:$C$39500)),,1)),- -($C$6:$C$39500=H1),($D$6:$D$39500))

  10. Trying to find a SUMPRODUCT formula that counts the word Closed by date for the last 7 days in a filtered list.
    =COUNTIF(M:M,”>”&TODAY()-7) works ok for unfiltered count Column M contains Closure dates (blank if open) and Column L is Status Open or Closed

  11. I used this formula and worked like a charm! But, now I’ve been requested to use it but adding not one but two criteria in the same formula. For instance the sum I was doing added negative and positive numbers. I’ve been asked to use the exact same formula but adding that only positive numbers were considered… any idea on how to do this?

  12. Thank you so much brother literally I have been struggling since morning to get the sum of the filtered category, however, after reading your blog attentively i got my solution, so thanks a lot once again.

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