Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Returning the MODE of a Range.

Returning the MODE of a Range

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 2, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Excel provides the MODE function to help you determine the most frequently recurring value in a range. For instance, let's say you have a table that contains sales orders. One of the columns indicates the number of items ordered in each order. Over time, you may have accumulated quite a bit of data in the table. If you wanted to know the most common number of items ordered, you could use the MODE function.

Suppose your items ordered column is F, and you have 1,200 orders detailed in rows 2 through 1,201. If want to know the most common number of items ordered, you can use the following:

=MODE(F2:F1201)

The value returned represents the most commonly recurring value in the range. Thus, if 520 of your customers ordered 3 items, and the next most common was 314 customers ordering 4 items, then MODE would return the number 3.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2365) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Returning the MODE of a Range.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Understanding File Paths

Every file on your disk drive has a unique file path that defines its location. Understanding how file paths work can be ...

Discover More

Flipping a Drawing Object

Don't like the way a drawing object looks? Perhaps flipping the object could help appearances. Excel allows you to flip ...

Discover More

Saving Movement on Enter with a Workbook

Press Enter when working in a workbook and Excel moves to a cell adjacent to the one in which you were working. If you ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Summing Only Visible Values

When you use SUM to determine the total of a range of values, Excel doesn't really pay attention to whether the values ...

Discover More

SUMIF Doesn't Recalc Automatically

What are you to do if you suspect that some of your worksheet functions aren't recalculating automatically? Here's some ...

Discover More

Strange ATAN Results

You may use Excel's trigonometric functions to do some quick calculations, and suddenly notice that the results in your ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight minus 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.