IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH question

[kreskin]

I am relatively new at using formulas. What I wanted to do was practice on IF formulas. As a test for myself I wanted to take a list of US Presidents in column A and a list of US Vice-Presidents in column B. My question was - how many vice-presidents became presidents.

After trying it myself - with no luck - I came across the IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH formula and what I came up with was in cell C:

IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(B1:A:A,0),1,0)

I then copied the formula down column C

I got correctly 15 matches giving a value of 1.

What I don't understand is - what is the 0 for after the A:A in my formula. Why won't it work if I just enter IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(B1:A:A),1,0)

I think I am missing something basic with the IF function - but would like some clarity.

Thank you

[mehmetcik]

I assume your formula is =IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(B1,A:A,0),1,0)

The Zero tells the match function to look for an exact match.