When you work in Excel spreadsheets, it’s often useful to study ranges of numbers to identify the minimum value. The minimum value will be the smallest number within a given range. You can manually review data and find the minimum, but there’s an easier (and more accurate) way. That’s all thanks to a built-in Excel function. Let’s learn how to use MIN in Microsoft Excel.
How to Use MIN in Excel
Imagine that you have a range of numbers spanning several rows in columns. As an example, you might have thirty values in the cells ranging across A1:C10. At a glance, you need to find the minimum (smallest) value in the range. Keep in mind, this could be a very large number. It always relates to the given range or dataset.
Excel’s MIN function is the fastest and easiest way to quickly identify the minimum value contained within a certain range. And it’s incredibly simple to use.
To add the MIN formula to your spreadsheet, get started by clicking into any empty cell. Type an = sign first. This tells Excel that you’ll be inputting a formula into the cell.
Then, type MIN(. This adds the MIN function to the formula. Now, all that remains to be done is to select the range from which you want to find the minimum value.
In this example, as mentioned, the range is A1:C10. You can click and drag your cursor to select the range. Type ) when you’re finished, completing the MIN formula as:
=MIN(A1:C10)
Hit Enter on your keyboard, and Excel will analyze the selected range to determine the minimum value. The minimum in this range is 29, and Excel will display 29 in the cell where you placed the formula.
As you can see, it’s easy to find the minimum value in a range, all thanks to Excel’s built-in MIN formula.
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