Microsoft Knowledge Base

How to Automatically Return a Random Value from a List
Last reviewed: May 29, 1997
Article ID: Q169169
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
  • Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

By using a combination of the INDEX, INT, ROWS, and RAND functions in a worksheet formula in Microsoft Excel, you can automatically return a random value from a list on a worksheet.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example formula automatically returns a random value from a list on a worksheet 

   =INDEX(<Range>,INT(ROWS(Range)*RAND())-1,1)
where <Range> is the address of the cells that contain the data.

To use the formula, do the following:

  1. Type the following information into a worksheet: 

          A1:  A
      A2:  B
      A3:  C
      A4:  D
      A5:  E
      A6:  F
      A7:  G
      A8:  H
      A9:  I
      A10: J

  2. In cell C1, type the following formula: 

          =INDEX(A1:A10,INT(ROWS(A1:A10)*RAND())-1,1)

  3. To generate a new value in cell C1, press F9 to recalculate the formula.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q44738
   TITLE     : Generating a Random Number without RAND() in Excel

   ARTICLE-ID: Q96746
   TITLE     : XL: Using RAND() to Generate Randomly Distributed Integers

Keywords : kbusage xlformula
Version : 5.0 5.0a 5.0c 7.0 97
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo

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Last reviewed: May 29, 1997
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