Today you will
- find the cheapest and dearest costs with MIN and MAX
- count your items with COUNT and COUNTA
- add these answers to your {{code:05_project_budget}}
Warm-up
Think about your Something Real budget. Which single cost do you think is the highest? Your spreadsheet will check your guess later today.
Four new formulas
- MIN finds the smallest number in a range, like your cheapest cost.
- MAX finds the largest number in a range, like your dearest cost.
- COUNT counts only the cells that have numbers in them. It skips blanks and words.
- COUNTA counts every cell that is not empty, so it counts words like item names too.
You have 8 items, but one cost is blank. {{code:=COUNTA(A2:A9)}} gives 8 and {{code:=COUNT(C2:C9)}} gives 7.
You will make a practice cost list for a craft stall, then add four summary formulas. Copy this table into a new sheet. Leave the Business cards cost blank on purpose.
| Item | Category | Cost (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker packs | Materials | 12.50 |
| Card stock | Materials | 8.00 |
| Ink set | Materials | 34.99 |
| Stall fee | Venue | 25.00 |
| Social ads | Promo | 15.00 |
| Mailers | Materials | 6.50 |
| Design tool | Tools | 11.99 |
| Business cards | Promo | (leave blank) |
Near the end you will type these five self-test labels.
- Smallest in C2:C20
- Largest in C2:C20
- Numeric costs in C2:C20
- Item names in A2:A20
- COUNT on names returns 0 because
Now follow the steps in the box below.
Common snags
- Item count shows 0. You used COUNT on words, so switch to COUNTA for item names.
- MIN or MAX looks wrong. Your range probably has the heading or Total row in it. Pick only the cost cells.
- The formula shows as text. Delete it and type it again, starting with {{code:=}}.
Independent Practice
- Open {{code:05_project_budget}} and click your main budget sheet, not {{code:Formula_practice}}.
- Find your first and last cost cells, for example D2 to D12. Leave out the heading and Total rows.
- Beside your totals, type the labels Lowest cost, Highest cost and Item count.
- Add MIN and MAX formulas for your costs, and COUNTA for your item names.
- Change one cost and check that MIN or MAX changes too.
If Item count shows 0, you used COUNT instead of COUNTA.
- My three labelled results are on my main budget sheet.
- My ranges cover only my real data.
- Changing a cost changes a result.
- My file shows Saved or All changes saved in Drive.
Think about
- Was your warm-up guess right? What did MAX show you?
- Which is most useful for your project: the cheapest cost, the dearest cost or the item count?
Talk about it with a partner.
What you covered
- I can use MIN and MAX to find my lowest and highest costs.
- I can pick COUNT for numbers and COUNTA for words.
- I added lowest cost, highest cost and item count to {{code:05_project_budget}}.
Finished early?
Add one more summary cell of your own. Beside it, write a short note on how it helps your project.
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