Buzz
Instead of computing each expression or number individually, you can use 2 VLOOKUP functions to speed up calculations following the instructions provided by Mytour.
Note:
To set up an exact match search, add FALSE or the number 0 as the 4th argument:
=VLOOKUP(val,data,col,FALSE)
The reason VLOOKUP function in this mode is slow is because it has to check each record in the dataset until it finds the exact value. This is sometimes referred to as linear search.
VLOOKUP performs approximate value searches quite quickly
In approximate value search mode, VLOOKUP operates quite swiftly. To utilize VLOOKUP for approximate matching, you need to sort the data by the first column (lookup column), then specify TRUE as the 4th argument:
=VLOOKUP(val,data,col,TRUE)
If you have a very large dataset, switching to VLOOKUP for approximate value calculations will significantly improve computation speed.
Simply sort the data and use VLOOKUP function for approximate value calculation.
When using 2 VLOOKUP functions for faster computation, one issue arises: VLOOKUP won't display an error if the search value doesn't exist. Even though the result may seem completely normal, it's a miscalculated value.
The solution is to utilize the VLOOKUP function twice, both times in approximate match mode:
=IF(VLOOKUP(id,data,col,TRUE)=id, VLOOKUP(id,data,col,TRUE), NA())
How does this formula work?
In the first example, the VLOOKUP function simply searches for a value (in this case, id): To better understand how to combine the VLOOKUP and IF functions, follow the tutorial article on combining VLOOKUP and IF here.
=IF(VLOOKUP(id,data,1,TRUE)=id
And returns TRUE only when the search value is found. In that case, the formula uses the VLOOKUP function in approximate match mode to retrieve a value from that table:
VLOOKUP (id,data,col,TRUE)
The search value is not at risk of being lost because the first part of the formula has been checked to ensure it's there.
If the search value is not found, the 'value if FALSE' part of the IF function will run, and you can return any value you want. In this example, using NA(), returns the error '#N/A', but you can also return an error message like 'Missing' or 'Not found'.
Above, Mytour just guided you on using 2 VLOOKUP functions for faster computation. Pay attention to using VLOOKUP function accurately to avoid this VLOOKUP error. If you have any questions, feel free to leave your comments below the article, Mytour will respond to your questions as soon as possible.
In Excel, there are many common basic functions like STOCKHISTORY function, Count function, etc. Each function will have different syntax and application methods. You can refer to the article Stockhistory function to understand more about this function.
