MIN + SUM problem

Hi, welcome to the forum,
You could place a formula in one specific cell that calculates the MAX(range) or the MIN(range)

I think the OP wants to try to do this without a helper column: he (she) wants to have the formula work out the sum of each of the rows separately and then decide which outcome is the minimum. I think it's going to be tricky with a formula alone. Maybe VBA?

I would like to know what the philosophical reasons are so that I can decide whether or not I agree with them.

See attached file

I used this formula to get the minimum row match. Its an array formula so control + shift + enter to make it work

=MATCH(MIN(A1:A4+B1:B4+C1:C4),A1:A4+B1:B4+C1:C4,0)

Wasn't sure if you wanted the row number - 3 or the minimum - 32.

If you just wanted the minimum then this will do it

=MIN(A1:A4+B1:B4+C1:C4)

but I'm looking to do that in a single cell (for philosophical reasons which I'm sure you all agree with)

I do NOT agree.

Also why would you use a helper column when there's a simpler way?

using a helpcolumn can avoid a difficult formula which is difficult to change (for the forummembers).

so I prefer to stick with the (easy) helpcolumns.

some members want to impress their boss with a complex formula and get stuck when it needs to be changed.

I was working an array formula also, but Crooza hit it before me. Just out of curiosity, how would you extend this to X rows of data? Sure you could add extra ranges/arrays

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

but what if you had 100 rows, 1000 rows, still growing? Would you need to resort to VBA or an extra column??

Originally Posted by oeldere

using a helpcolumn can avoid a difficult formula which is difficult to change (for the forummembers).

so I prefer to stick with the (easy) helpcolumns.

some members want to impress their boss with a complex formula and get stuck when it needs to be changed.

I'm with you Oeldere, I use helper columns ALL the time in my own solutions in real life but there is a growing drive I see on the forum to have a purist solution with everything calculated in one cell. As you can see its possible but trying to decode a problem months later can be a real pain so I use helpers and hide them if I don't want them to show.

@crooza

and hide them if I don't want them to show.

Or put them in a column at the end of the data, and don't print them.

@orangejuice

but I think it's generally better to understand how the difficult formula works to be able to change it, which then makes you better at Excel, right?

of course that is a good thing to do.