Excel track · Exercise 10 of 86 Paid

MIN and MAX: fastest and slowest

Return the smallest or largest number in a range without sorting the sheet first.

Beginner

Four runners' lap times

Read-only data · screen 1 of 2 · answer in B6

In B6, return the fastest of the four lap times in B2:B5 with MIN.

	A	B
1	Runner	Lap (s)
2	Ada	61.2
3	Ben	58.4
4	Cai	63.9
5	Dee	59.1
6	Fastest

Download this grid (.xlsx) Two tabs: the grid you see, and the answer.

In B6, return the slowest of the four lap times in B2:B5 with MAX.

	A	B
1	Runner	Lap (s)
2	Ada	61.2
3	Ben	58.4
4	Cai	63.9
5	Dee	59.1
6	Slowest

Download this grid (.xlsx) Two tabs: the grid you see, and the answer.

Reference answer

What it does

MIN returns the smallest number in a range and MAX the largest. The four laps are 61.2 in B2, 58.4 in B3, 63.9 in B4 and 59.1 in B5, so MIN over B2:B5 gives Ben's 58.4 and MAX gives Cai's 63.9. Neither function sorts the sheet or cares which row a time sits in.

This exercise asks for the fastest lap on one screen and the slowest on the other. Fastest is the smallest number, so both answers come from the same four cells with the function swapped. The average of the four is 60.65, a time nobody ran, and it answers neither question.

Point both formulas at B2:B5 instead of typing the four times. A re-run lap then changes the answer, and a range that stops a row early hides the runner who was quicker.

Syntax

=MIN(number1, ...) for the smallest, =MAX(number1, ...) for the largest

Worked example

On Four runners' lap times, =MIN(B2:B5) returns 58.4.

=MIN(B2:B5)

Common errors

Error codes for MIN and MAX
Error	What it means and how to fix it
`#VALUE!`	A word was passed as an argument in its own right, as in =MIN(Fastest), which gives MIN no number to compare.
`#REF!`	The range names cells that were deleted with their rows or their sheet, so MIN has nothing left to read.
`#DIV/0!`	One cell inside the range already holds that error, and MIN passes it back instead of the fastest lap.

At work

Race results and delivery logs, where the question is who came first or last, and the average never answers it.