Formula Forensics-No. 036: Calculating Costs that Vary by Year and Age

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Van Gysel asked in a recent post at Chandoo.org for a way to calculate the costs of running a plantation.  The twist is that the costs vary by year, and based on the age of the trees.

The following is a slightly simplified version of the solution I offered:

=SUM(IFERROR(LOOKUP(“Year”&MMULT(N($B$3:B$7>0),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN($B$3:B$7)^0)), $B$11:$I$11, $B12:$I12),0)*B$3:B$7)      Ctrl+Shift+Enter

Today I am going to try and explain how the formula works.

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

 

The Problem

In a plantation, the costs for planting and maintaining trees vary based on the age of the trees and by year.  The table below shows the acres of trees planted per year and the yield and costs per year that vary based on the age of the trees.

FF36-02

Let us look at the calculations needed for each year.

Year 2013

  • 300 acres of trees were planted in 2013.  Calculations for 2013 are as follows.  (Only Yield calculation is shown, but the process is similar for Nursery costs, Fertilizers, etc.)
  • The trees do not yield any fruits in the first year.  As such, Yield for year1=300*0=0

That was easy!

 Year 2014

  • 700 additional acres of trees will be planted in 2014.  Calculations for 2014 are as follows.  (Again, only Yield calculation is shown, but others are calculated similarly.)

FF36-Year2Calc

  • 300 acres of trees are 2 years old.  700 acres are 1 year old.
  • The 300 acres from 2013 now yield fruit since it is year2.  However, the new trees (700 acres) do not yield any fruits yet.  So total yield for 2014=300*Year2Yield+700*Year1Yield=300*5+700*0

Year 2015

  • 1000 additional acres are to be planted in 2015.  Calculations for 2015 are as follows:

FF36-Year3Calc

  • 300 acres are from 2013 (3 years old); 700 acres are from 2014 (2 years old); 1000 acres are from 2015 (1 year old).
  • Yield for 2015=300*Year3Yield + 700*Year2Yield + 1000*Year1Yield = 300*10 + 700*5 + 1000*0

 Year 2016

  • 1000 additional acres are to be planted in 2016.  Calculations for 2016 are as follows:

FF36-Year4Calc

  • Yield for 2016=300*15+700*10+1000*5+1000*0

How do we simulate the above calculation in an Excel formula?

A Solution

Let us first look at how we performed the calculations above manually, using the 2016 Yield as an example.

  1. We took each acreage value in 2016, and determined its age by counting how many years it has been since that acreage was planted.  You might have observed that the age can be counted by the number of times a value has been repeated up to that point.  (In other words, if I planted 300 acres in 2013, I should see that same amount in 2014, 2015 and 2016.) As such, 300 acres is repeated 4 times.  700 acres is repeated 3 times.  1000 acres is repeated 2 times. And the latest planting of 1000 acres exists only once.
  2. Once we determine the age for a given acreage, we looked up the yield for that age in the second table
  3. We then multiplied the acreage with the corresponding yield value.

Calculation #1 can be expressed as follows:

  • Age for acreage 1 (first planted in 2013)=count of B3:E3 where value is greater than zero.  i.e. COUNTIF(B3:E3,”>0”)
  • Age for acreage 2 (planted in 2014)=count of B4:E4 where value is greater than zero.  i.e. COUNTIF(B4:E4,”>0”)
  • Age for acreage 3 (planted in 2015)=count of B5:E5 where value is greater than zero.  i.e. COUNTIF(B5:E5,”>0”)
  • Age for acreage 4 (planted in 2016)=count of B6:E6 where value is greater than zero.  i.e. COUNTIF(B6:E6,”>0”)
  • Age for acreage 5 is zero since nothing has been planted for 2017 yet in 2016

The above approach would work if we were calculating the age one row at a time.  However, that can become tedious really fast.  We need to perform the calculation for the full range (B3:E7) together, but return the counts for each row individually.

Excel’s MMULT function comes to the rescue!

MMULT (which stands for Matrix Multiply) multiplies two matrices and returns a third matrix based on rules for matrix multiplication.  I am planning to devote a whole article to explain the MMULT function.  As such, for this article, we will summarize the utility of the function as “take a 2-dimensional array, add each column’s value for each row, and return a 1-column array”.

MMULT requires that its arguments be numeric.

So to obtain the counts for the year 2016, we can use the following:

MMULT(N($B$3:E$7>0),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN($B$3:E$7)^0))

As you can see from the picture below, MMULT’s results are the addition of each column for each row.

FF36-TRUE FALSE to1s 0s

In the above formula, you may have noticed that the range uses absolute and relative referencing (signified by the $ sign or lack thereof).  This is to ensure that the range grows or shrinks as needed.  The upper left address is held constant ($B$3).  However, the lower right address for the range has columns that vary but row that is fixed on row #7.  This ensures that the formula would work if we copy to the left, right, etc. in the final results.

Now that we have the age for each acreage value, we can look up the corresponding yield value using (what else?) LOOKUP function.

But before we can use LOOKUP, we will need to convert the numeric values returned from MMULT into the strings Year1, Year2, etc. found in the Costs table.  Of course, you know how to do that… concatenate the string “Year” to the result from MMULT

“Year”&MMULT(N($B$3:E$7>0),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN($B$3:E$7)^0))

For the 2016 example, we get {“Year4″;”Year3″;”Year2″;”Year1″;”Year0”}

We can now use LOOKUP as follows:

LOOKUP(“Year”&MMULT(N($B$3:E$7>0),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN($B$3:E$7)^0)), $B$11:$I$11, $B12:$I12)

FF36-2016 calc

You may recall that LOOKUP looks up a value in the array indicated by the second argument, and returns the corresponding value from the third array argument.  In this case, instead of looking up a single value, we look up an array of values (supplied in the first argument) to the function.

The above formula translates to the following:

LOOKUP({“Year4″;”Year3″;”Year2″;”Year1″;”Year0”}, {“Year1″,”Year2″,”Year3″,”Year4″,”Year5″,”Year6″,”Year7″,”Year8”}, {0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35})

The result from LOOKUP is {15;10;5;0;#N/A}

(The last value is #N/A because there is no acreage value for 2017 yet (as of 2016 column).  The concatenation resulted in Year0 which does not exist in the “Age of The Trees” range (B11:I11) above.)

By using IFERROR(LOOKUP(…),0) we get {15;10;5;0;0}

We can now multiply the above result with the acreage values for 2016 to get {4500;7000;5000;0;0}

Finally, we SUM the values to get 16500

FF36-Final Calc

Putting it all together, we get the following formula (shown for Production for year 2016)

=SUM(IFERROR(LOOKUP(“Year”&MMULT(N($B$3:E$7>0),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN($B$3:E$7)^0)), $B$11:$I$11, $B12:$I12),0)*E$3:E$7)

One of the benefits of the above formula is that you can copy the same formula to calculate values for additional years, as well as other plantation costs.

Download

You can download a copy of the above file and follow along: Download sample file.

 

Let me know (using the comments below) what you think of the above approach and solution, as well as any other approaches you have utilized to solve a similar problem.  In the meantime, I wish you continued Excellence!

-Sajan.

 

 Other Posts in this Series

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

Visit the Formula Forensics Home Page to read other articles in this series.

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15 Responses to “Compare 2 Lists Visually and Highlight Matches”

  1. Nunes says:

    Hi,
    I solved this in a little different way.

    We have 2 lists, one starts at A1 and other at B1, both are vertical arrays.

    First thing is define 2 named ranges, list1 and list2:
    list1 refers to "=OFFSET(Sheet1!$A$1;0;0;SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$1000""));1)"
    list2 refers to "=OFFSET(Sheet1!$A$1;0;0;SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet1!$B$1:$B$1000""));1)"

    this way lists will be dynamically sized when you had or remove elements (you can't have blanks and you can't have more than 1000 elements).

    Then I use conditional formatting in column A when this formula is true:
    "=NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(A1;list2;0)))"
    and "=NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(B1;list1;0)))" to list2.

    This way we eliminate the need for auxiliary columns or lists.

    Hope you like my way! 😀

    Nunes

  2. glw says:

    Simple conditional formatting formula.
    Assuming lists vertical lists starting in A1 & B1
    To highlight just one column (assume B for example)
    Conditional formatting>New Rule>by formula
    =MATCH(B1,$A$1:$A$99,0)
    Set the cell fill to what ever color you prefer & press OK

    To highlight both columns repeat with this formula for cell in column A
    =MATCH(A1,$B$1:$B$99,0)

    This approach doesn't require named fields or addtl columns
    glw

  3. Alan says:

    Say I had 1 list in A2:A20 and another in B2:B20.

    To format all the items in column A that are repeated in column B I would use the following Conditional Formatting rule.

    =IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2,$B$2:$B$20,1,false)),true,false)

    All the duplicates are highlighted. It us a very simple example of comparison.

  4. Lee says:

    I may be missing something here, but I usually highlight both my lists by holding ctrl eg A1:A20 E10:E40 then choose conditional formatting from the ribbon and then highlight duplicates, and this does it?

  5. Greg says:

    Lee, I was perplexed as well. I do the same thing you do with the conditional formating. A drag and click to highlight range and choose highlight duplicates does the trick for me.

  6. Alan says:

    I believe these methods are to check if an item from one list also appears in the other list. So if an item mentioned many times in one list if also mentioned in the other list or not.

    The Conditional Formatting highlight duplicates feature will do this, but it will also highlight an item if it appears multiple times in the one column or list.

  7. i48998 says:

    Hi, I would just like to know (if you are willing to share) which image editing program you use to make your image like above, like they are torn apart from bottom? I've been looking for long.

  8. Hui... says:

    @i48998
    Chandoo is on Holidays, but Chandoo uses Paint.Net
    Paint.net is a free download available at http://www.paint.net/
    .
    I use CorelDraw/PhotoPaint
    .
    We both use the Snipping Tool (a freebe with Win Vista/10)
    .
    We both use Camtasia for doing screen captures to make animated GIFs where you see animation.

  9. Rick says:

    Here is how I would accomplish
    (1) Define Names: List_1, List_2
    (2) =ISNA(MATCH(D4,List_2,0))-1 (Conditional Format formula List_1)
    (3) =ISNA(MATCH(D4,List_1,0))-1 (Conditional Format formula List_2)

    ISNA will return 1 if NO Match and O if Match by adding a -1 will make: NO Match 0 and Match a -1 which is True

  10. Hi all
    this my first Post here
    i think we can take Unique List for tow list to know what is not Duplicate By this Array formula
    =IFERROR(INDEX($D$6:$D$33,SMALL(IF(ISERROR(MATCH($D$6:$D$33,$B$6:$B$33,0)),ROW($D$6:$D$33)-ROW($D$6)+1),ROWS($J$5:J5))),"")
    and this one for Duplicate Value
    =IFERROR(INDEX($D$6:$D$33,SMALL(IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH($D$6:$D$33,$B$6:$B$33,0)),ROW($D$6:$D$33)-ROW($D$6)+1),ROWS($J$5:J5))),"")

    Don't forget to Enter This Formula by Pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter

  11. Excel Addin says:

    without wanting to ruthlessly self promote here, I do have an addin that does neatly compare two ranges, not just in columns, so you might want to check that out.

    Having said that this is a pretty neat solution if you dont want to be going down the VBA or purchase route. I like it

    however, could you not do something with the remove duplicates feature in Excel 2010 and then compare the resulting data set?

  12. SirJB7 says:

    Hi, Chandoo! I've found yesterday your Excel website... What can I say? It's just awesome, Excellent. Being a developer for 30 years, more than 15 with Office products, and wow!, how many things I discovered in a couple of hours, and what pretty resolved.
    I decided to take the long path of the newbies and read all your examples and write down by myself all of them, and when I arrived to this (the comparison of two lists) I think I've found a problem:
    a) in "Step 4: Apply conditional formatting to Second List - Use the same logic, but this time the rule becomes =COUNTIF(count1s,$H6)" it should say "Step 4: Apply conditional formatting to Second List - Use the same logic, but this time the rule becomes =COUNTIF(count1s,$H6)>0", but this is a typing error that I believe all of us here might have discovered and corrected
    b) the very problem: I wrote down two different lists, in different ranges, and with different number of elements, I specified the equivalent conditional formats, et non voilá!, I didn't get what expected. So I downloaded your example book, I checked range names, formulaes, conditional formats and all OK. So I copied -just values- from my book to yours, and I still couldn't achieve the goal.
    I'm using Excel 2010 in spanish, I'm from Buenos Aires (Argentina), and my book is at your disposition whenever you considerate it appropiate.
    Thanks in advance for your time, and again my congratulations for your work here.
    Best regards.
    SirJB7

  13. SirJB7 says:

    Comparison of 2 lists visually with highlights
    Author: SirJB7 / Date: 11-Dic-2011
    Pros: no duplicated tables, no matrix formulaes, no named ranges, no VBA code, just conditional formatting
    Cons: not found yet, comments and observations welcome
    Features:
    a) standard problem: highlights in orange/yellow elements existing in the other list
    b) optimized problem: idem a) plus highlights in red/violet first occurrence of elements existing in the other list
    Sheet contents:
    a) conditional format, 1 rule per list (2 methods used)
    A1:A20, first list
    B1:B20, second list
    a1) range A1:A20, condition =NO(ESERROR(BUSCARV(A1;B$1:B$20;1;FALSO))), format Orange ---> in english: =NOT(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(A1,B$1:B$20,1,FALSE)))
    a2) range B1:B20, condition =CONTAR.SI(A$1:A$20;B1)>0, format Yellow ---> in english: =COUNTIF(A$1:A$20,B1)>0
    b) conditional format, 2 rules per list (2 methods used)
    D1:D20, first list
    E1:E20, second list
    b1) range E1:E20, condition 1 =Y(NO(ESERROR(BUSCARV(D1;E$1:E$20;1;FALSO)));COINCIDIR(D1;D$1:D$20;0)=FILA(D1)), format Red ---> in english: =AND(NOT(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(D1,E$1:E$20,1,FALSE))),MATCH(D1,D$1:D$20,0)=ROW(D1))
    same range, condition 2 and format 2, same as a1)
    b2) range E1:E20, condition =Y(CONTAR.SI(D$1:D$20;E1)>0;COINCIDIR(E1;E$1:E$20;0)=FILA(E1)), format Violet ---> in english: =AND(COUNTIF(D$1:D$20,E1)>0,MATCH(E1,E$1:E$20,0)=ROW(E1))
    same range, condition 2 and format 2, same as a2)
    Personally I like the a2) and b2) solutions, I think the formulaes are prettier.
    I still don't know the rules of this website and forum, but it any precept is infringed I'm willing to share the workbook with the solution. If it breaks a rule, I apologize and promise that won't happen again.
    Best regards for all!

  14. sunil says:

    Dear All i have a complicated situation...

    1. I have two sheets of data Sheet1 and Sheet2 (from various sources) - Both of these contain data matching and Not matching as well..

    2. Now for me i need to build an excel where in i need to get sheet 3 with values that are present in a column of Sheet 1.

    What ever Sheet 1 doesn't have i dont want those rows from sheet 2 to be populated into Sheet3.

    Can any one help me out.

  15. Jagdev says:

    Hi Team

    The above example is to compare partial name from 2 different columns.

    If I want to cross check it in a single column. I have both correct and partial correct/match entries in a column. Is there any way I can find both the entries in the column.

    Regards

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