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How to find closest value greater than or less than in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

In Excel, we can use LOOKUP function to find a value which equals to a specific value, but if there are no values which absolutely match to the lookup value, there will return nothing. However, have you ever tried to find the closest value with greater than or less than a specific value as below screenshot shown? In this article, I will introduce some formulas which can quickly find the nearest value greater than or less than the lookup value in Excel.
Example of getting closest value greater than or less than from a group of numbers

Find nearest value greater than

Find nearest without going over

arrow blue right bubble Find nearest value greater than

Select a blank cell which you will put the lookup result, type this formula =MIN(IF(A1:B6>E1,A1:B6)), and press Shift + Ctrl + Enter keys simultaneously. See screenshot:
Formula entered and result displayed

In the formula, A1:B6 is the range you want to find value, E1 is the value you look up.

arrow blue right bubble Find nearest without going over

Select a blank cell which you will place the lookup result, type this formula =MAX(IF(A1:B6<E1,A1:B6)), and press Shift + Ctrl + Enter keys.
Formula entered and result displayed

In the formulas, A1:B6 is the range you want to find value, E1 is the value you look up.

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