Forum Discussion
MIN function exclude "Zero" values - Non Consecutive group of cells
And just to add to the pot, an interesting small challenge:
Imagine range from large negative to large positive. We aim to retrieve the second smallest positive number from a discontinued range of cells. Hundreds of cells to take into account. The second smallest number retrieved (k) should not be equal to k -1, nor k +1. That is, a unique second smallest positive (non-zero) number.
See initial structure:
=SMALL(LET(continued,HSTACK(A1,C1,E1,G1,I1),FILTER(continued,continued>0)),2)
In the example, 8 should be the value retrieved and not 1.
Also, how to set the HSTACK or similar in an efficient way (hundreds of cells, cannot be entered mannually - one space between each one always).
Not to enter hundred of references it shall be some logic defined, i.e. take every third cell or like. If no such logic when only manually.
So, If I understood correctly
=LET(a, {-1,1,1,8,9}, f, FILTER(a,a>0), SMALL(HSTACK(TAKE(f,,1),UNIQUE(f,1,1)),2) ) =LET(a, {-1,1,1,8,8,9}, f, FILTER(a,a>0), SMALL(HSTACK(TAKE(f,,1),UNIQUE(f,1,1)),2) )That is the "trick":
The first positive number is counted to be the first (independently if it is not unique).
That is, 1 is the first positive number. It is repeated, but it would be still counted as the first positive number.
However, for the sake of finding the second smallest number, this one should not be repeated. The uniqueness requirement is only affected by the second smallest positive number, the one we are looking to retrieve. Not for the first smallest positive value.
I missed a bit , what exactly do you mean
for {-1,1,1,8,9} positive distinct are {8,9}, first smallest is 8, second smallest is 9
for {-1,1,1,8,8,9} positive distinct are {9}, first smallest is 9, second smallest doesn't exist
What about the retrieval of the second smallest postive unique number?
In a range {-1,1,1,8,9} it should be 8.
In a range {-1,1,1,8,8,9} it should be 9.
Note the aim is not the second smallest number by position (which would be 1) but for uniqueness (first unique second smallest value).