Formula Forensics No. 035 Average the last 3 values greater than 0

A couple of weeks ago Amanda asked a question at Chandoo.org

“I need to calculate a moving average of the last 3 months.

However, if one of the months contains 0%, I want it to ignore that and take the last month that didn’t have a zero.

For instance, my data is this: April = 100%, May=0%, June=97%,July=98%, August=0%.

My formula is only looking at June July and August, but since August has a 0 I would like it to look at May June and July.

And since May has a 0, I would like it to look at April, June and July.”

I offered a solution which is an array formula.

=AVERAGE(AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3}))) Ctrl+Shift+Enter

Today I am going to try and explain what it is doing and how it works.

As always at Formula Forensics you can follow along with a sample file: Download Here

The Problem

How do we write a formula to extract the last 3 non zero values?

What if there is more than 1 zero value?

What if the zero values are non-contiguous?

This can all be shown by:

Average of the last 3 records – No Zeroes

Average of the last 3 records – One Zero in Current Month

Average of the last 3 records – One Zero  in a Previous Month

Average of the last 3 records – Multiple Zeroes

A Solution

=AVERAGE(AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3}))) Ctrl+Shift+Enter

Normally at Formula Forensics we start in the inside of a formula and work out, but today we are going to start at the outside and work our way in.

The solution: =AVERAGE(AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3})))

This function is the Average() of an Averageifs() function.

What is going on here you ask ?

We know that the Average() function will average the constituent numbers. eg: =Average(6, 8, 10) = 8

But doesn’t Averageifs return a single number? The average of its components!

We’ll mostly, but not always.

Lets have a look:

If we remove the outside average and just look at the inner Averageifs() function

In the sample file, Cell F15 you will see:

=AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3})) Press F2 then F9,

Excel evaluates this as:

={0.5,0.9,0.7}

So the Averageifs() function is returning 3 values being 0.5, 0.9 & 0.7

These are the last 3 values greater than 0 ranked from latest to earliest by date

Which is exactly what Amanda asked us to average

So we will need to look inside the Averageifs() function to see what is going on.

The Syntax for the Averageifs() function is:

AVERAGEIFS(average_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], …)

in our example

Average_range : $B$3:F3 This is the Values we want to average from teh start of the data up to the current cell

Criteria_range1 : $B$2:F2 This is the Date Range from the start of teh data up to the current cell

Criteria1 : LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3}) This is a function that will return the 3 largest values shown by the array {1,2,3}

So in in English, the Averageifs function is being asked to return a single value from the Value row where the Date row matches the largest, second largest and third largest criteria. In each case Averageifs will average the number but as it is a single number it returns the value by itself.

Lets now step into the Large() function and see what is going on.

LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3})

The Large() function has the syntax =Large(Array, k)

In our example:

Array: IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2)

k: {1,2,3} This is an array and hence asks for the Largest (1), Second largest (2) and Third Largest (3) values

So we are getting the 3 largest values from the formula: IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2)

What is the IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2) formula doing?

If you put the formula IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2)

into a blank cell say F31 and press F9

Excel returns: {41275,41306,41334,41365,FALSE}

These are the date values of the date row up to the Column we are working in

You can see these in Row 1 of the sample file

You will notice that there is a False value in the position of the Column which has the Value of 0%

This is derived by the If() Function.

The If() function is saying: IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2)

If the Value Row >0 ($B$3:F3>0), return the Date Row ($B$2:F2) else return False

The False isn’t shown in the formula, it is returned by Default when a False argument doesn’t exist

The standard Syntax for If is =If(Criteria, Value when true, Value when false)

In our case we don’t have a Value when false component and so Excel simply places a false in as the answer.

Applying the formula using Ctrl+Shift+Enter forces Excel to Evaluate the formula as an Array Formula

What this means in practice is that the Formulas are evaluated 3 times as per the array {1,2,3} effectively extracting the last 3 values that match the last 3 dates where the Value is >0

What if I want to Average a Different Number of Days?

You have two choices

1. Change the Array Manually

If say you want to average the previous 5 values

You can modify the array manually

=AVERAGE(AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),{1,2,3,4,5}))) Ctrl+Shift+Enter

This is ok if it is not done regularly or is only slightly different to the existing array.

But if you want to setup the top twenty you need to type {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20}

Which is quite clumsy!

Bad Hint: You can copy the array from above.

Or you can automate it using the technique below.

2. Insert a Formula to Setup the Array

You can add a small function that will automatically setup the array like:

=AVERAGE(AVERAGEIFS($B$3:F3,$B$2:F2,LARGE(IF($B$3:F3>0,$B$2:F2),ROW(OFFSET($A$1,,,F39,1))))) Ctrl+Shift+Enter

This assume that cell F39 has a number which is the number of periods you want to average

You can read more about how the ROW(OFFSET($A$1,,,F39,1)) part works in previous Formula Forensics posts

Download

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

Other Posts in this Series

The Formula Forensics Series contains a wealth of useful solutions and information.

You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts: http://chandoo.org/wp/formula-forensics-homepage/

Two Challenges

1. Can you solve this another way

Just after I posted my solution, Chandoo posted an alternative solution which you can read at:

http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/04/28/calculate-moving-average/#comment-446559

Can you solve this problem another way ?

Let us know in the comments below:

2. Your Challenge?

If you have a clever formula and would like to become an author here at Chandoo.org please consider writing it up as I have done above. Alternatively you can send the formula to either Chandoo or Hui.

Hello Awesome...

My name is Chandoo. Thanks for dropping by. My mission is to make you awesome in Excel & your work. I live in Wellington, New Zealand. When I am not F9ing my formulas, I cycle, cook or play lego with my kids. Know more about me.

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