Which statement is accurate when the range lookup argument in the vlookup function is true?
Look up and retrieve information in a table Show
What is VLOOKUP in Excel?The VLOOKUP Function[1] in Excel is a tool for looking up a piece of information in a table or data set and extracting some corresponding data/information. In simple terms, the VLOOKUP function says the following to Excel: “Look for this piece of information (e.g., bananas), in this data set (a table), and tell me some corresponding information about it (e.g., the price of bananas)”. Learn how to do this step by step in our Free Excel Crash Course! VLOOKUP Formula=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup]) To translate this to simple English, the formula is saying, “Look for this piece of information, in the following area, and give me some corresponding data from another column”. The VLOOKUP function uses the following arguments:
How to use VLOOKUP in ExcelStep 1: Organize the dataThe first step to effectively using the VLOOKUP function is to make sure your data is well organized and suitable for using the function. VLOOKUP works in a left to right order, so you need to ensure that the information you want to look up is to the left of the corresponding data you want to extract. For example: In the above VLOOKUP example, you will see that the “good table” can easily run the function to look up “Bananas” and return their price since Bananas are located in the leftmost column. In the “bad table” example you’ll see there is an error message, as the columns are not in the right order. This is one of the major drawbacks of VLOOKUP, and for this reason, it’s highly recommended to use INDEX MATCH instead of VLOOKUP. Step 2: Tell the function what to lookupIn this step, we tell Excel what to look for. We start by typing the formula “=VLOOKUP(“ and then select the cell that contains the information we want to lookup. In this case, it’s the cell that contains “Bananas”. Step 3: Tell the function where to lookIn this step, we select the table where the data is located, and tell Excel to search in the leftmost column for the information we selected in the previous step. For example, in this case, we highlight the whole table from column A to column C. Excel will look for the information we told it to look up in column A. Step 4: Tell Excel what column to output the data fromIn this step, we need to tell Excel which column contains the data that we want to have as an output from the VLOOKUP. To do this, Excel needs a number that corresponds to the column number in the table. In our example, the output data is located in the 3rd column of the table, so we enter the number “3” in the formula. Step 5: Exact or approximate matchThis final step is to tell Excel if you’re looking for an exact or approximate match by entering “True” or “False” in the formula. In our VLOOKUP example, we want an exact match (“Bananas”), so we type “FALSE” in the formula. If we instead used “TRUE” as a parameter, we would get an approximate match. An approximate match would be useful when looking up an exact figure that might not be contained in the table, for example, if the number 2.9585. In this case, Excel will look for the number closest to 2.9585, even if that specific number is not contained in the dataset. This will help prevent errors in the VLOOKUP formula. Learn how to do this step by step in our Free Excel Crash Course! VLOOKUP in financial modeling and financial analysisVLOOKUP formulas are often used in financial modeling and other types of financial analysis to make models more dynamic and incorporate multiple scenarios. For example, imagine a financial model that included a debt schedule, where the company had three different scenarios for the interest rate: 3.0%, 4.0%, and 5.0%. A VLOOKUP could look for a scenario, low, medium or high, and output the corresponding interest rate into the financial model. As you can see in the example above, an analyst can select the scenario they want and have the corresponding interest rate flow into the model from the VLOOKUP formula. Learn how to do this step by step in our Free Excel Crash Course! Things to remember about the VLOOKUP FunctionHere is an important list of things to remember about the Excel VLOOKUP Function:
Additional ResourcesThis has been a guide to the VLOOKUP function, how to use it, and how it can be incorporated into financial modeling in Excel. Even though it’s a great function, as mentioned above, we highly recommend using INDEX MATCH instead, as this combination of functions can search in any direction, not just left to right. To learn more, see our guide to INDEX MATCH. To keep learning and developing your skills, check out these additional CFI resources:
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What is range lookup in VLOOKUP function?range_lookup (optional) A logical value that specifies whether you want VLOOKUP to find an approximate or an exact match: Approximate match - 1/TRUE assumes the first column in the table is sorted either numerically or alphabetically, and will then search for the closest value.
Which is the correct order of arguments for the VLOOKUP function?The VLOOKUP function consists of three required arguments, in the following order: lookup value, table array, and column index number.
When you use a lookup type of true the VLOOKUP?When you use a lookup type of TRUE, the VLOOKUP function looks only for an exact match of the lookup value. You can often use a LOOKUP function instead of a VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP function with a TRUE lookup type. The INDEX function allows you to retrieve data from multidimensional tables.
How do you know if a VLOOKUP is true or false in Excel?The formula's logic is very simple: you use the ISNA function to check Vlookup for #N/A errors. If an error occurs, ISNA returns TRUE, otherwise FALSE. The above values go to the logical test of the IF function, which does one of the following: If the logical test is TRUE (#N/A error), your message is displayed.
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