Excel Index() and Match()

So I thought to write on my Experience so far at the Data Analytics cohort at TheBulbAfrica.

"Whatever path you choose give it all it takes"

Having been an insightful and challenging experience so far with our instructor Mr Jacob Ajala, the past few days has not been easy going for me due to the fact that I had to miss due to some unavoidable circumstances. In my absence a lecture on the application of INDEX() and MATCH() functions in Microsoft Excel was delivered and unfortunately for me an assignment was given after the class.

I made every possible attempt to get access to the recordings of the class that I missed so I could at least have an idea off it that will aid me in attempting the questions in the assignment that was given but all effort was in vain. Of course, the assignment was with a deadline. I couldn’t meet up with the deadline, so I FAILED the section of the assignment that required the use of INDEX() and MATCH() in other to arrive at the correct answer. The thing sha pain me well well.

In the class following the submission of the Assignment, corrections were made for some of us who did not get the correct answers and you can be sure that after all the corrections that were made I still could not have an understanding of what these two functions were meant for.

Fast forward to today, having harbored the burden of getting an understanding of these functions for days, I decided to seat and dig it out with these functions. Without exaggeration, I sat on it for over six hours trying to understand what they mean and in what context they can be used on a dataset.
I am happy to say that at this point I have a hang of it already and since have been practicing them and even to combining the two functions to act on a dataset.

I have come to the understanding that the role of INDEX() in data manipulation is to find a given value in an array, given the row number and column number. The Complete syntax is written as =INDEX(array,row_number,column_number).

And as well the role of MATCH() in data manipulation which is to find the position of a given value in a array. The complete syntax is written as =MATCH(lookup_value,lookup_array,[match_type]).

I now feel more confident in the usage of Excel for Data Analysis compared to when I Started.

I look forward to more challenging activities and assignments from My instructor Mr Jacob Ajala and my mates cos Mr. Jacob Ajala is giving us sleepless nights.

Unto the next assignment.