# Vloopup in Excel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vloopup-in-excel/396630>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 19, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vloopup-in-excel/396630 "2007-03-19T21:42:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vloopup-in-excel/396630/1 "2007-03-19T21:42:10Z")

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I’m trying to assign grades to number in a workbook. The numerical value is in column C while I want the letter value of the corresponding number in column D. Any idea if I can do this on the page without hardcoding the values somewhere on the sheet? I’m trying to go through the VLookup function and I am having a hardtime understanding what each thing is specifying. Can anyone help me?

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**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vloopup-in-excel/396630/2 "2007-03-19T22:27:04Z")

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[QUOTE=Surbey]  
I’m trying to assign grades to number in a workbook. The numerical value is in column C while I want the letter value of the corresponding number in column D. Any idea if I can do this on the page without hardcoding the values somewhere on the sheet? I’m trying to go through the VLookup function and I am having a hardtime understanding what each thing is specifying. Can anyone help me?  
[/QUOTE]

VLOOKUP is easier than it looks, actually - once you understand what it’s looking for, that is.

VLOOKUP takes 4 arguments, in this format:

_VLOOKUP(value\_to\_find, search\_range, column\_to\_return, match\_type)_

(I know that’s not what Excel calls them, but it’s much easier this way.)

_value\_to\_find_ is what you’re looking for in the FIRST column of search\_range - in your case, a number value in column C.

_search\_range_ is the range in which VLOOKUP will both search and return values from - in your case, C:D (add row numbers if needed).

_column\_to\_return_ is a number representing which column you want VLOOKUP to pull the value from after it finds value\_to\_find. Since column D is the 2nd column of your range, you’d use a 2 here.

Finally, _match\_type_ specifies HOW you want VLOOKUP to find your results. Using a 0 means “exactly equal to _value\_to\_find_” - only the value you specify will qualify. A 1 means “find the closest match you can that is greater than or equal to _value\_to\_find_”, and -1 means “find the closest match you can that is less than or equal to _value\_to\_find_”.

So, to wrap up, in your situation you’d probably use something that looks like this:

```auto

=VLOOKUP(90, C:D, 2, 0)

```

You could replace 90 with the address of another cell, for example, instead of a hard-coded value.

Hope this helps!

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**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vloopup-in-excel/396630/3 "2007-03-20T04:35:35Z")

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oh very much, thanks!

I actually broke my back testing this out one by one before I saw your post. I figured it out except how to find things that weren’t exactly the same. I think I got it now though, thanks alot!