Final Friday Fix: February 2024 Challenge

On the final Friday of each month, we set an Excel / Power Pivot / Power Query / Power BI problem for you to puzzle over for the weekend.  On the Monday, we publish a solution.  If you think there is an alternative answer, feel free to email us.  We’ll feel free to ignore you.

The Challenge

Suppose you have a Table named Data in Excel, containing a list of names under the column Name and corresponding numerical data under the column Grade, viz.

Your task is to write a single Excel formula that sums the Grade data between two names exclusively, which we referred to as Name_1 (Cell G28) and Name_2 (Cell G29). These names are inputs that can be changed, and the sum should dynamically update to reflect the range of data between these two names in the Data table. You can download the original question file here.

As always, there are some requirements:

• the formula needs to be within just one column (no “helper” cells)
• the solution must work even if the order of Name_1 and Name_2 is swapped in the list
• the formula should be dynamic so that it updates when a new entry is added.

Sounds easy?  Then why not have a go?  We’ll publish one solution in Monday’s blog.  Have a great weekend in the meantime!