Lookup Functions
Intermediate
Basic VLOOKUP Function
Pull a price out of a second table without going to find it yourself.
Task:
The order sheet has parts and quantities; the prices live in a separate list someone else maintains. Fill column C with each part's price, read from that list, so it stays right when they update it.
Learning Objectives:
- Look a value up in a second table
- Count the return column from the table, not the sheet
- Ask for an exact match, and lock the range before filling down
Hints
Solve without hints for +5 XP
The data in this exercise
This is the grid you start with. Cell references in the task — B6, C2 — point at the row numbers and column letters below.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Part | Quantity | Unit price | Price list | ||
| 2 | HX-200 hinge | 10 | Door closer | 8.4 | ||
| 3 | Wall bracket | 15 | M6 bolt (100pk) | 3.2 | ||
| 4 | M6 bolt (100pk) | 8 | HX-200 hinge | 2.5 | ||
| 5 | Wall bracket | 1.8 |
What this exercise teaches (contains the answer)
The price list is in a different order from the order sheet, which is the normal state of two lists maintained by two people. That is exactly why the lookup earns its place: reading across from the same row would have given you the door closer's price for a hinge, and nothing about the result would have looked wrong.