从带有下拉菜单的表中选择数据

Question

I have a very big table where I add a column every month with new prices. Then, I have to perform some analysis with those values. I have already made it but with the name of the column in the formula. I want to know if I can point the formula to the drop-down so I just select the new period when it is available and get the results.

Here are some examples of the formulas I have been using:

{=SUM(IF($B17=Matriz[money];Matriz[31-10-2013]*Matriz[country];0))}

I would like to use something like

{=SUM(IF($B17=Matriz[money];Matriz[*dropdow reference*]*Matriz[country];0))}

pd: the { } are for matrix calculations (when you use ctrl + shift + enter)

Answer 1

You are looking for the indirect function. With it, you can construct a string on the fly that contains your cell formula - then the indirect function will resolve the formula-string to its result.

A bit difficult to describe without a concrete example.

Have a look at the following resources:

about.com

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/indirect.htm

Answer 2

I suggest you to use INDEX + MATCH instead IDIRECT (since IDIRECT is volatile function and your formula would be recalculated each time any cell changed):

=SUM(IF($B17=Matriz[money];INDEX(Matriz[#Data];0;MATCH(A1;Matriz[#Headers];0))*Matriz[country];0))

and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to evaluate it.

alternatively you could use SUMPRODUCT - it doesn't require array entry:

=SUMPRODUCT(($B17=Matriz[money])*INDEX(Matriz[#Data];0;MATCH(M2;Matriz[#Headers];0))*Matriz[country])

I assumed that your dropdown value is in A1 cell.

• this part MATCH(A1;Matriz[#Headers];0) finds value from A1 cell in headers of your table
• this part INDEX(Matriz[#Data];0;MATCH(A1;Matriz[#Headers];0)) gets corresponding column of data