Let me start by saying this: I love Google Sheets. It's an incredibly versatile tool that helps me organize and analyze all sorts of data. And one of the most useful features of Google Sheets is the ability to use formulas.
But even as someone who uses Sheets all the time, I have to admit that some of these formulas can be a little intimidating. There are just so many of them! And even the ones I think I understand can sometimes have me scratching my head when I try to use them.
That's why today I want to focus on one formula in particular: MIN. This might not be the most glamorous formula, but it's incredibly useful in a lot of different situations. Here's what you need to know:
MIN is short for "minimum." Essentially, it's a formula you can use to find the smallest value in a range of cells. So, for example, if you have a column of numbers and you want to find the lowest one, you can use the MIN formula.
Here's what the formula looks like:
=MIN(range)
Just replace "range" with the actual range of cells you want to look at. For example, if you have a column of numbers in cells A2 through A10, you would use this formula:
=MIN(A2:A10)
And the result would be the smallest number in that range.
Okay, so finding the smallest value in a range of cells might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world. But here are a few situations where it can be incredibly helpful:
Let's say you have two different sets of data, and you want to compare them to see which one is "better." Maybe you have a list of sales numbers for two different salespeople, and you want to see who had the higher total. You can use the MIN formula to find the lowest number in each column and compare them to see which is higher.
Conditional formatting is a way to automatically apply formatting to cells based on certain conditions. For example, you might want to highlight all the cells with numbers lower than a certain value. You can use the MIN formula to find that lowest value and then apply formatting based on that.
The MIN formula can also be helpful when you're trying to calculate an average. Let's say you have a list of numbers, but you want to exclude the highest and lowest values before calculating the average. You can use the MIN formula to find the smallest number and then exclude it from your calculations.
So there you have it: a quick explanation of the MIN formula in Google Sheets. This might not be the most exciting formula out there, but it's incredibly useful in a lot of different situations. And now that you know how it works, you can start using it to make your spreadsheets even better.
Of course, this is just the tip of the Google Sheets iceberg. There are dozens of other formulas and features to explore, each one with its own unique set of uses and quirks. But hopefully, this article has given you a good starting point. Happy formula-ing!
