using small function while ignoring 2 cell WITH data

[Justme764]

Hello,

What I am trying to do is use the small function to find the second smallest number. The problem is that when I choose the cells =small(B1:D1,G1,2) It doesn't work, now I have figured out why it doesn't work is because as soon as it see the , it thinks that is the k value. I know you can skip blanks and 0 but the 2 cells I want to leave off have data in them. Is there a way to do this? I am so new to all of this that there is probably a very easy way do fix this. I have searched the web for 2 weeks and can find no info on this. Thank you all very much for any info you can give.

[NBVC]

One way is to name the range and use that name in the formula...

so if you name B1:D1 and G1 as "Dataset" then a formula like: =SMALL(Dataset,2) will give desired result.

To name the range, select B1:D1, hold CTRL key and select G1, then go to Insert|Name|Define and enter "Dataset" without the quotes (you can also just enter the name in the box to the left of the formula Bar at top).

[daddylonglegs]

If B1:D1 contains 1,2,2,3 and G1 contains 1 what do you expect the second smallest value to be?