How to look things up with INDEX

Abstract

What does theINDEX functiondo?

Let’s take a look.

INDEXis a powerful and flexible function that can be used for advanced features like dynamic ranges and two-way lookups.

In its simplest form, INDEX takes just two arguments: an array and a row number.

INDEX correctly retrieves Chicago from the list of cities.

If I put in “13” we’ll get Austin, the 13th city in the list.

Now let’s expand on this to use INDEX with multiple columns.

Now, I’ll add the first INDEX formula to retrieve the city name.

In this case, that’s the column number “1”.

Now I can copy the formula down and come back and adjust the column numbers for each INDEX formula.

Now, at this point, you’re probably feeling a little underwhelmed.

Yes, that’s true, and that’s where theMATCH functioncomes in.

MATCH can find the position of an item.