how to create list of 4 numbers that add up to 30

I believe this requires VBA.

Do you want all permutations, or all combinations? That is, do you consider

1,1,1,27

to be the same as

27,1,1,1

(combination) and should not be duplicated? Or do you want them both (permutation)?

Are you asking about how to do the linking you described, or just how to generate a list of numbers? I'm not clear on what you're trying to do with the linking.

The file is helpful but I don't see where you want the final result. Where do you want the 9 bits of info to show up?

Originally Posted by Silid

i want to be able to select the 3 numbers by clicking on each number.

I don't understand how you want this to work. You want to select three numbers by simply clicking on each one? That definitely requires VBA. How do you want the user to be able to see what three numbers he clicked on? If you have to click on three numbers, why do you have three columns? You could just click three times on the same column of numbers, in the desired order. (vipul.halbe's suggestion is how I would set this up, but you seem to rule that out.)

How do you want errors handled? That is, what happens if the user selects 27, 27, 27?

By the way, based on your data you are using permutations, not combinations. For example, the following sets exists:

1,1,1,27
1,27,1,1
1,1,27,1
27,1,1,1

These four numbers are four permutations of a single combination.