Calculate the smallest or largest number in a range

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

  1. Select a cell below or to the right of the numbers for which you want to find the smallest number
  2. Click the arrow next to AutoSum Button image, and then click Min (calculates the smallest), or Max (calculates the largest), and then press ENTER.

ShowIf the cells are not in a contiguous row or column

Use the MIN, MAX, SMALL, or LARGE functions to do this task.

Worksheet example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

ShowHow?

  1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
  2. Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

    Selecting an example from Help

    Selecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.
 
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2
3
4
5
6
7
A
Data
10
7
9
27
0
4
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)

Function details

LARGE

MAX

MIN

SMALL