Selecting the max with a condition in excel

Question

I have a range in excel with dates and values

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_i-hI_3gfy08/SoSIopeZUZI/AAAAAAAABEk/KjFnq57VTUc/table.png EDIT:image added

I want to select the MAX value from the HIGH column for each YEAR (2009 would return 404, 2008 would return 390)

I've done something similar but it's using SUMIF, not MAX.

Any excel people in here that can help me out?

Answer 1

There are three options available.

My preferred option is to create a pivot table without a helper column.

• Option 1: Use a pivot table

Create a pivot table of your data.

Set the row to the date field and group it by year. Alternately a 'Year' helper column could be used by adding a column with this formula.

=YEAR(A2)

Set the data items value portion of the pivot table to be the MAX of your 'High' field

• Option 2: Use the DMAX function

Add a helper column titled year with the formula

=YEAR(A2)

Then add a formula for each year

=DMAX(A1:C21,"High",F13:F14)

• Option 3: Use an array formula

Enter an array formula for each year using the Ctrl-Shift-Enter keys.

{=MAX(IF(YEAR(A2:A21)=2008,B2:B21))}

Answer 2

The equivalent of SUMIF in Excel is something like this:

{=MAX(IF(CategoryColumn="High",ValueColumn,"")}

Where

• CategoryColumn is the column containing your categories (e.g., "Low", "Med", "High")
• ValueColumn is the column containing the data you want to get the max of

NOTE: This is an array formula so you must press Ctrl-Shift-Enter when entering this formula instead of just Enter. Also, don't actually type in the braces {}. The braces show up automatically to indicate that you've entered an array formula.

NOTE 2: You can actually name a range of data. For example, select the range A1:A20. Right-Click and select "Name a Range..." So, for this example, you can select your category column and name it CategoryColumn. Same with ValueColumn.

Array formulas allow you to do IF statements and other functions on a whole range of data instead of just a single value.

This example checks if the value in the "category column" is "High". If it is, it puts the neighboring "value" into the MAX function, otherwise it puts a blank. This gives you the maximum of all the "High" values.

P.S. I don't think the img tag works on this site...can't see your image.