Double Thunking Works Wonders!
Given that most Excel users would not dream of employing one thunk, you might well ask why even consider nested thunks! The use case explored here is to return all the combinations by which one might choose m objects from n (not just a count of options =COMBIN(n, m), but the actual combinations) Knowing that sometimes allows one to deploy an exhaustive search of options to determine the best strategy for a task. Before considering the task further, one might ask 'what is a thunk; isn't it far too complicated to be useful?' All it is, is a LAMBDA function that evaluates a formula when used, the same as any other function. The formula could be an expensive calculation or, rather better, no more than a simple lookup of a term from a previously calculated array. The point is, that whilst 'arrays of arrays' are not currently supported in Excel, an array of functions is fine, after all, an unrun function is little more than a text string. Only when evaluated, does one recover an array. In the example challenge, each cell contains an list/array of binary numbers, which might itself run into the hundreds of terms. A '1' represents a selected object whilst a '0' is an omitted object. Rather like the counts of combinations obtained from Pascal's triangle, each cell is derived from the contents of the cell to the left and the cell above. This is SCAN on steroids, accumulating array results in two directions. Running down the sheet, the new combination contains those of the above cell, but all the objects are shifted left and an empty slot appears to the right. These values are appended to those from the left, in which the member objects are shifted left but the new object is added to the right. So the challenge is to build a 2D array, each member of which is itself an array. The contents of each cell is represented by a thunk; each row is therefore an array of thunks which, for REDUCE to treat it as a single entity, requires it to be securely tucked inside its own LAMBDA, to become a thunk containing thunks. Each pair of rows defined by REDUCE is itself SCANned left to right to evaluate the new row. By comparison the 2D SCAN required for the Levenshtein distance which measure the similarity of text strings was a pushover. I am not expecting a great amount of discussion to stem from this post but, if it encourages just a few to be a little more adventurous in the way they exploit Excel, its job will be done! p.s. The title of this discussion borrows from the Double Diamond advert for beer in the 1960s
max corresponding to a value which may be in 1 or multiple sets
Hi G6 is showing error because F6 is not found in D15:D50. what would be the simple process that F6 is searched in D15:D50 and D56:D91 and returns value from col K instead of an error whether or not that value exist in either of the sets.How to Be an Excel Detective: Finding and Highlighting Formulas
Hi everyone, I recently wrote a blog post on some simple, yet powerful, techniques for anyone who works with Excel spreadsheets, especially those with complex data. I wanted to share a summary of it with this community, as it might be helpful to others who are looking to understand and protect their work. The post covers two main things: Quickly Revealing All Formulas: A simple keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + `) or the "Show Formulas" option can instantly reveal all formulas in a worksheet. This is a great way to quickly see how a spreadsheet is structured. Permanently Highlighting Formulas: The article shows how to use the "Find & Select" > "Formulas" feature to select all cells containing formulas and then permanently highlight them with a fill color. This visual cue can help prevent accidental edits and protect your data. Watch This in Action: For a step-by-step guide on how to use these techniques, you can watch the video on my https://www.youtube.com/@BIGurus. 🔗 https://youtu.be/1x-1dbqlWXk You can also read the full article here: https://medium.com/@anandsharad/how-to-be-an-excel-detective-finding-and-highlighting-formulas-fe9d4fdbc1b1 I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or discuss other Excel tips and tricks in the comments!
EXCEL FORMULA HELP
I need help. I have attached the sheet I'm working on. I need to pull the data in column B (CLIENT) from the MAIN sheet to the respective individual sheet based on column E (PREPPER). For example, if the data in B4 says 'Jason Smith' and E4 says 'Jon'; I need it to go to the JON sheet in cell B4 but not show up on sheets JANE or MARLA. Help please!! Thank you! :)Logical function (AND, OR) in Dynamic Array/Spilled Range
Hello, I have a spilled function, (lets say in C1 I use SORT(B1:B10)) and I need to know if each cell in the spilled range is in the between a max value and min value, so I need the returned product to be also a spilled range. Let's say the max value is 7000 and min value is 3000, and I used the following function in cell D1: =IF(AND(C1#>=3000;C1#<=7000);"NORMAL";"ABNORMAL") I expect it to return it as a spilled range and fills D1 to D10, but it only returned the first row of the dynamic array. The returned product only fills D1 as "NORMAL" while D2 - D10 remains empty; it didn't return a spilled product. I tried to experiment with it, trying if the problem is in the IF function or in the AND function. I tried to do the IF and AND function separately on a spilled range, and it turned out the problem is with the AND function (the IF function returned a spilled range, while the AND only returned a single cell). I need the IF and AND function to return a spilled range product. Can someone help? Thank you in advance.
Excel Task list
Hi All, I am having an issue finding a way to organize my task list. I have a task list with multiple tasks that is color coded by task codes. For example if on position A1 I introduce the task code "C" then the task will appear in column "task 1" as Clean. Each tasks is color coded by priority, high priority turns red, medium turns the cell orange and low turns the cell yellow. However, beyond the color coding I want all the high priority cells (in red) to always go on column labeled "task 1" since it is the first task I want done. Right now, my issue is that depending on how the task code is entered, tasks will go to any column (i.e. Task 1, Task 2, Task 3, Task4 ,etc.) But I would like that all high priority go to one column (task 1), all medium go to another column (task 2) and all low priority go to task 3. How can I fix this issue? Thank you!
