Cell Address of a Maximum Value

Summary: Finding the maximum value in a range of cells is easy; finding the address of the cell containing that value is a different story. Here's several ways you can get the address you need. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Barry has a worksheet with 65,000 rows. They are unsorted and must remain unsorted. He can use the MAX function on the column and get the maximum value in that column. However, he also wants to know the address of the first cell in the column that contains this maximum value.

There are a number of ways that you can determine the address of the maximum value. One way is to use the ADDRESS function in conjunction with the MAX function, in the following manner:

=ADDRESS(MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0),1,4)

The MATCH function is used to find where in the range (column A) the maximum value resides, and then the ADDRESS function returns the address of that location. A shorter version of the macro leaves off the ADDRESS function, instead being "hardwired" to return an address in column A:

="A"&MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0)

Still another way to get the desired address is with a formula such as this:

=CELL("ADDRESS",INDEX(A:A,MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0)))

This formula uses the CELL function, in conjunction with INDEX, to return the address of the cell that matches the maximum value in the column.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3818) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Cell Address of a Maximum Value