Vlookup and "-" negative numbers are giving me a #N/A

[Guest]

How do I deal with the negative numbers? If possible I would rather not
complicate my formula with an If statement.

Thanks again and again and again and again and again

 

[Guest]

That probably means that it can't find it in the list. If the last portion
of the Lookup function is selected as "true" the list needs to be in
ascending order. If the number you are looking up is not greater than the
first number in the list, it will return #N/A. Give me a little more info on
the problem and I will try to help you through it!

WB

 

[Guest]

What's the last parameter of the VLOOKUP? If you're using TRUE or 1, then
your table might have to be sorted in ascending order, negetives to
positives. Or maybe your looking up values with decimal places that are not
showing.

HTH
JG

 

[Guest]

My table is

CAPACITY
0 xxx
1000 phd2
2000 phd3
3000 phd4
4000 phd5
5000 phd6

B5 = 3233
=vlookup(B5, CAPACITY, 1)

And now I get nothing but "xxx"

 

[Dave Peterson]

If the first column of that table is numeric (real numbers) and if b5 is numeric
(real numbers), then I get 3000 back from that formula.

If b5 contains the text '3233, then I get #n/a

Debra Dalgleish has some trouble shooting tips at:
http://www.contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html#Trouble

ps. Did you want to return column 2:
=vlookup(B5, CAPACITY, 2)
(assuming that Capacity is a 2 column table.)

 

[Guest]

I figured out that the column numbers are relitive to the table and not the
sheet. I also found that the result is the row before the next higher value.
ROW1 ROW2 ROW3
CAPACITY HOLDOWN
0 n.r.
1000 PHD1
2000 PHD2
3000 PHD3
4000 PHD4

=VLOOKUP(1500, CAPACITY, 3) RETURNS A BLANK
=VLOOKUP(1500, CAPACITY, 2) RETURNS n.r.

tHE NEGATIVE PROBLEM SEEMS TO HAVE GONE AWAY. Is the return value working
correctly? I am going to experiment with the true/false value. The problem
with this is anyone entering data will be confused by the table.

 

[Guest]

Actually the negative problem still exists

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

If I use

=VLOOKUP(B5,Capacity,2)

with 3233 in B5

I get phd4, not good?

--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

Portland, Oregon

 

[Dave Peterson]

Make sure that the first column in Capacity is a real number
select an empty cell
edit|copy
select that first column
edit|Paste special|check add.

Then try it again.

If that doesn't work, what is Capacity defined as--just share the address of
that table.

 

[Guest]

No it shoud have been a phd5.

 

[Guest]

Am I correct to assume that you want to lookup the number regardless if it's
positive or negetive? i. e. -1500 then lookup 1500? If so then try:

assuming -1500 is in A1
=VLOOKUP(ABS(A1),CAPACITY,2,1)
or
=VLOOKUP(ABS(A1),CAPACITY,2,0)
depending on your situation.

HTH
JG

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

So you want the larger closest value and regardless if a value is negative
so if B5 was -3233 you still want Phd5?

=INDEX(Capacity,MATCH(SMALL(INDEX(Capacity,,1),COUNTIF(INDEX(Capacity,,1),"<"&ABS(B5))+1),INDEX(Capacity,,1),0),2)

--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

Portland, Oregon

 

[Guest]

THANKS FOR THE FANCY FORMULE Peo Sjoblom. IT WILL TAKE A LITTLE EFFORT TO
FIGURE IT OUT. This works nice for returning "12" which is one of the
problems I was trying to solve. I still have to deal with the negative issue.
I am currently using If statements which work fine but I have a feeling that
it isn't the most effecient method.

I am currently using:
b5 = -5555

=IF(B5=0,IF(C17=0, 0, IF(B5<0, "N.R.",VLOOKUP(B5,
StrapCapacity,2))),IF(B5<0, "N.R.",VLOOKUP(B5, StrapCapacity,2)))
This formula deals with the negative value

I feel that if this formula could deal with negatives it would look like this:
=VLOOKUP(B5, StrapCapacity,2)
much easier to manage



This is the result of your formul
=INDEX(Capacity,MATCH(SMALL(INDEX(Capacity,,1),COUNTIF(INDEX(Capacity,,1),"<"&ABS(B5))+1),INDEX(Capacity,,1),0),2)

=12

b5 = -5555
It should be
= 5

-10000 5
0 6
1000 7
2000 8
3000 9
4000 10
5000 11
6000 12
7000 13
8000 14
9000 15


Goes this make sense?