Excel Challenge from a friend - I failed can you solve it?

A

Asheron

New Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2019
Messages
2
I hope one of you gurus can solve this. I was only able achieve right result using 2 helper columns but challenge requires only 1 helper column to be used (part 1) and no helper column at all for part 2 of challenge.

I managed to get the correct answer of -111 using the following formulas in two helper columns.​

[TABLE="width: 1084"]
<colgroup style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></colgroup><tbody style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]challenge data was in column A
helper column B formula [TABLE="width: 374"]
<colgroup style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></colgroup><tbody style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]=IF(EXACT(LEFT(A4,1), "A"),REPLACE(A4,1,1,"")+0,"")[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
<strike style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></strike>
[/TD]
[TD]<strike style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></strike>
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]helper column C formula
[TABLE="width: 564"]
<colgroup style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></colgroup><tbody style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]=IFERROR(IF(MOD(B4,1)=0,B4,"") IF(B4<-999,"",IF(B4>999,"",B4)),"")

I Put answer in cell C:26 using [TABLE="width: 146"]
<colgroup style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></colgroup><tbody style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]=AVERAGE(C4:C25)

Below is the data for the challenge.​

[TABLE="width: 73"]
<colgroup style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><col style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></colgroup><tbody style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A1000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A0001[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A17.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A-999[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]X14[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A51[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B21[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B22[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B23[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B24[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B25[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]a-51[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B27[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B28[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B29[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B30[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B31[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]B32[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]a335[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A3.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A356[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD]A36[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
<strike></strike>
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
<strike></strike>
[TABLE="width: 805"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]HERE"S THE EXCEL FORMULA CHALLENGE[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Obtain an AVERAGE value from a single contiguous column of mixed contiguous alphanumeric values[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] (one alpha followed by a maximum of four numeric only, no spaces), formatted as text, where;[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Only the Column Cell values that start with an “A” and are followed only by a contiguous numeric string[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] representing a single integer number not equal to zero are to be used in the average calculations.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Those single integer numbers must be greater than -1000 and less than 1000.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Case sensitivity must be enforced.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Negative numbers are allowed.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Decimals are not.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Leading zeros are allowed for positive integers, but must be discounted (e.g. 0012 must be calculated as being equivalent to 12)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]No VBA or custom Functions can be used, visible Cell formulas only.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]PART 1 (do first to test how hard this actually is)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Complete the above challenge using a single helper Column (difficult).[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]PART 2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Complete the above challenge without using a helper Column and only one formula in one Cell (very difficult).

[TABLE="width: 73"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
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</tbody>[/TABLE]
<strike></strike>
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[TABLE="width: 1084"]
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
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[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE="width: 564"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD][TABLE="width: 146"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
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Excel Facts

What is the shortcut key for Format Selection?
Ctrl+1 (the number one) will open the Format dialog for whatever is selected.
Sort by date Sort by votes
With one helper column (assumes data range is A4:A25), put this formula in cell B4...

=IF(IFERROR(SEARCH(".",A4),0)>0,0,IF(CODE(LEFT(A4,1))<>65,0,IF(OR(VALUE(MID(A4,2,LEN(A4)-1))<-999,VALUE(MID(A4,2,LEN(A4)-1))>999),0,VALUE(MID(A4,2,LEN(A4)-1)))))

...and copy it down to cell B25 then put this formula anywhere you want to see the result:

=AVERAGEIF(B4:B25,"<>0")

Not sure without helper column at the moment though :confused:
 
Upvote 0
or result is -111 if range for avg doesn't contain decimals like 3.4 and 17.5)

with single monster formula:
Code: 
=SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(LEFT($A$1:$A$22,1),"A"),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)>-1000),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)<1000),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)-INT(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99))=0),--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99))/SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(LEFT($A$1:$A$22,1),"A"),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)>-1000),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)<1000),--(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99)-INT(--MID($A$1:$A$22,2,99))=0))
 
Last edited:
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