Nested IF Function??

[Denise41488]

Hello. I have three columns of width values.  I want a function to find the greater value out of all three values. Would this be a nested IF function or would it be another function? I'm mediocre -savvy in Excel; definitely not an amateur but definitely not an expert by any means either.

Thanks!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@Denise41488 

That's MAX().

[#3]

Oh, gosh...this MAX function is so much easier! Thank you!!

[#4]

@Denise41488 

I want a function to find the greater value out of all three values. Would this be a nested IF function or would it be another function?

Denise -- you may or may not be coming back to this thread you started, since @Detlef_Lewin gave you the answer you needed this time.

But if you do, I wanted to pick up on your question, and your self-description as something of a somewhat savvy beginner in Excel. One of the most useful attitudes you could have as you move forward is in the realization that, when your mind goes along the lines of "I want to find a function that.....[does this, that, or the other] ..." you can be almost certain that there IS such a function, that the programmers who created Excel (or Word or PowerPoint, or any of the other flexible computer-based tools) have had the same idea, and have done what you're looking for.

Then you need to have access to a reference book or website on--in this case--Excel, where you can look through a list of--in this case--functions, till you find one where the name sounds like what you're looking for.

Your very words--"want a function to find the greater value out of all three values"--is just another way of saving "maximum"

And in the process of looking for that, you'll be educating yourself on a lot of other useful functions. Back in the day when Excel (or really back in the day, Lotus 1-2-3) came with printed manuals, I used to re-read those manuals each year. Inevitably, I would come across a function that I'd missed, that did something more easily than whatever solution I'd kludged together before that. In this instance, your very question "Would this be a nested IF function?" actually was a good insight--because a nested IF function could be created to find the "max"--less efficiently, but still effectively. That's another feature of programs like Excel, there are often (usually) two or three ways to get from A to B, from problem to solution. 

Bottom line, as a learner in Excel, which is pretty much a permanent state for all of us, you should give yourself permission to try things out, to explore, to engage in trial and error....you're not going to break anything, and you'll grow in confidence and knowledge in the process.

[#5]

@mathetes 

Thank you for the encouragement. You're right; I'm hesitant about just getting into the software, and trying various functions and formulas. I feel like I'm going to break something or the screen would freeze (hopefully, nothing to do with Excel).  But that's exactly what I have to do. Sometimes its much easier this way to learn!!

Thank you again!!