In this article, you will learn how to find the minimum value of a spreadsheet with the MIN formula. This function finds the minimum value in an array of numbers.
The generic formula is as follows:
Value 1: This could be a single number, a cell reference, or a range of cells
Let’s see some examples. Assume your company is preparing for a new product launch and you are working on quality tests for some product types (Type A to F) and want to find the lowest score from a list of scores of the quality tests (Test A, B, and C). You can adjust the selection of a range according to a category you want to see the lowest number.
(i) The lowest Total Score
In the first example, the selected range is Total Scores of all types 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36 that has the lowest score of 21.
(ii) The lowest single Test Score (in any Tests) for Type A
In the second case, the selected area contains Type A’s test results in each Test 7, 1, 13. The MIN formula defined the lowest score of 1.
(iii) The lowest Test A Score
For the third example, Test A scores of all types are selected as a range in the formula 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 with the lowest score of 7
(iv) The lowest single score in Test A and C
You can select non-adjacent fields, as shown in the fourth example. In such a case, each field (as “Value”) should be punctuated by a comma. The outcome is 7 as the lowest score.
(v) The lowest single score in all Tests
You can also select an entire area if you want, but you need to ensure that the chosen range doesn‘t contain irrelevant figures. In the example above, the lowest score is 1 across all tests.
(vi) Example of a manual input
We recommend you always use cell reference(s), but if you want to know how to manually input a series of numbers in a formula to get the lowest one among them, see the sixth example. You can input each number (as each “Value”) by punctuating them with commas.
You can use the MAX function in Google Sheets to find the lowest figure in a selected range. Check this page to learn how to utilized the MAX formula in Google Sheets.
If you don’t get the solution you are looking for in this article, or you have further questions related to mathematics or statistics, you may find the answers in the following articles.
Go to the following articles to learn basic formulas in Google Sheets.
How to Do Math in Google Sheets for Beginners
ADD Function in Google Sheets: Explained
MINUS Function in Google Sheets: Explained
DIVIDE Function in Google Sheets: Explained
MULTIPLY Function in Google Sheets: Explained
PRODUCT Function in Google Sheets: Explained
How to Use SUM Function in Google Sheets
How to Use SUMPRODUCT Formula in Google Sheets
How to Use MAX Function in Google Sheets
How to Use MEDIAN Function in Google Sheets
How to Use AVERAGE Formula in Google Sheets
How to Use MODE Function in Google Sheets
MOD Function in Google Sheets: Explained
Navigate to the pages below to learn how to sum, count, or average numbers with a condition or multiple conditions.
How to Use SUMIF Function in Google Sheets - sum up the numbers that meet a criterion
SUMIFS Function in Google Sheets: Explained - sum up the numbers that meet multiple criteria
How to Use COUNTIF Function in Google Sheets - count the number of cells that meet a requirement
How to Use COUNTIFS function in Google Sheets - count the number of cells that meet multiple requirements
AVERAGEIF Function in Google Sheets: Explained - average the figures that meet a standard
AVERAGEIFS Function in Google Sheets: Explained - average the figures that meet multiple standards
AVERAGE.WEIGHTED Function in Google Sheets: Explained - use this formula to calculate the weighted average
MAXIFS Function in Google Sheets: Explained - seek for the maximum value that meets specific criteria
MINIFS Function in Google Sheets: Explained - seek for the minimum value that meets specific criteria
Visit the following post if you are interested in learning how to count the number of specific cells.
COUNT Function in Google Sheets: Explained - count the number of cells containing numeric values (except for blank ones)
COUNTA Function in Google Sheets: Explained - count the number of cells incorporating all types of values containing text and date, except for blank ones
COUNTBLANK Function in Google Sheets: Explained - count the number of blank cells
COUNTUNIQUE Function in Google Sheets: Explained - count the number of unique cells
You can learn about other Google Sheets formulas and tips that are not mentioned here on this page: LiveFlow‘s How to Guides
Are you learning this formula to visualize financial data, build a financial model, or conduct financial analysis? In that case, LiveFlow may help you automate manual workflows and update numbers in real-time. You can access various financial templates on our website, from the simple Income Statement to Multi-Currency Consolidated Financial Statement. You can also customize these templates as you want without breaking the automated data inflow.
To learn more about LiveFlow, book a demo.
Learn how to do this step-by-step in the video below 👇