Use Sum and Max or Min to calculate the largest or smallest value in a range. For example, you can use it to find out who has the smallest error rate in a production run at a factory or the largest salary in the department.
If the cells are in a contiguous row or column
- Select a cell below or to the right of the numbers for which you want to find the smallest number.
- On the Home tab, select the arrow next to
Sum in the Editing group. - Select Min (calculates the smallest) or Max (calculates the largest), and then press ENTER.
If the cells are not in a contiguous row or column
To do this task, use the MIN, MAX, LARGE function, or LARGE functions, rather than
Sum.
Example
Copy the following Data column to a blank worksheet to column A.
| 1 | Data |
|---|---|
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 27 |
| 6 | 0 |
| 7 | 4 |
Copy these formulas to the spreadsheet to show an example.
| Formula | Description (Result) |
|---|---|
| =MIN(A2:A7) | Smallest number in the range (0) |
| =MAX(A2:A7) | Largest number in the range (27) |
| =SMALL(A2:A7, 2) | Second smallest number in the range (4) |
| =LARGE(A2:A7,3) | Third largest number in the range (9) |
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