Re: VLOOKUP and RAND question

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From: JE McGimpsey (jemcgimpsey_at_mvps.org)
Date: 03/07/04 

Date: Sun, 07 Mar 2004 10:53:52 -0700

As long as your numbers in column 2 are mapped 1 to 1 with numbers in
column 1 (e.g., no duplicates in column 1 with differing numbers in
column 2), you can use:

    =INDEX(B:B,RAND()*COUNTA(B:B)+1)

In article <deacs.12re4f@excelforum-nospam.com>,
 deacs <<deacs.12re4f@excelforum-nospam.com>> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a question regarding the VLOOKUP, RAND, and maybe IF functions
> in Excel. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can help with my
> problem. I have 2 columns of data and would like to use a formula for
> Column 3.
>
> Column 1 = numbers 1, 2, 3
> Column 2 = numbers 500, 1000, 1500 associated with Column 1
>
> I would like Column 3 to use the RAND function to randomnly pick from
> the numbers in Column 1, then return the value in Column 2. I'm not
> sure how to do this.
>
> Since there is equal probability of the numbers in Column 1 to appear,
> can I just use the RAND function for Column 2 and skip the first step I
> mentioned?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>
> ---
> Message posted from http://www.ExcelForum.com/
>

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