How to Use Excel's SMALL Function

The SMALL function in Microsoft Excel returns the smallest value from a range of values. You can also use it to return other values in relation to the smallest value. This function can be quite useful when you are looking to quickly find a low value in a large range of numbers. Follow the steps below to start using the SMALL function.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Microsoft Excel

1. Start Microsoft Excel. Open an existing spreadsheet that contains a range of numbers in which you would like to find the smallest.
2. Click on the cell in the Excel spreadsheet where you want to enter the SMALL function into. This is where the result of the cell will show up when it is calculated.
3. Determine what range you want to use to find the smallest number. Use cell references to refer to the cell range. For example, if you have values in cells B1 through B5, your cell range would be B1:B5.
4. Type the SMALL function into the cell. The SMALL function syntax is "=Small(array, nth_position)." Array is the cell range or array and nth_position is the position starting at the smallest that you want to return. For the example above, you would use the function of "=SMALL(B1:B5), 1" (without the quotation marks) to find the smallest number in the range of B1:B5.
5. Press the "Enter" key to enter the function into Excel. You will now get a return of the smallest number in the specified range.
6. Use the SMALL function to create other formulas that return other values. If you wanted to find the second smallest number in our example you would use the formula of "=SMALL(B1:B5), 2" (without the quotation marks).
7. Continue increasing the number at the end of the SMALL function to get returns that go from the smallest to the largest number.

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