Home > Formulas > Statistical > MIN and MAX Excel MIN and MAX Function Examples Find lowest and highest numbers with Excel MIN and MAX functions. Examples, videos, sample file to download

1) Video: MIN and MAX Functions

To see a quick overview of how you can create MIN, MAX, MIN IF and MAX if formulas in Microsoft Excel, you can watch this short video.

There are written steps and examples are in the sections below the video.

2) MIN Function

To find the lowest value (minimum number) in a set of values, use the MIN function.

The MIN function has the following arguments in its syntax:

• number1 - required
• number2 to number255 - optional

For each argument, you can enter numbers or names, or arrays, or a worksheet reference where numbers are stored.

If an argument is a reference or array, any empty cells, logical values (true or false), or text values are ignored, when calculating the minimum value.

Note: If the range does not contain any numeric values, the MIN formula returns a zero

2.1) MIN Function Example

For example, this MIN formula in column D will find the smallest number in a range of cells, H2:H17

=MIN(H2:H17)

3) MAX Function

To find the highest value (maximum number) in a set of values, use the MAX function.

The Excel MAX function has the following arguments in its syntax:

• number1 - required
• number2 to number255 - optional

For each argument, you can enter numbers or names, or arrays, or a worksheet reference where numbers are stored.

If an argument is a reference or array, any empty cells, logical values, or text are ignored, when calculating the maximum value.

Note: If the range does not contain any numeric values, the MAX formula result is zero

3.1) MAX Function Example

To find the largest number in a range of cells, use the MAX function. For example, this formula will find the highest value in the specified range of cells, H2:H17

=MAX(H2:H17)

4) MIN or MAX with Criteria

Instead of finding the overall MIN or MAX, you might need to include criteria in your calculations. For example:

• What is the MAX quantity in the East region?
• What is the MIN order total for Binder sales?

To calculate the MIN or MAX based on specific criteria, see the notes and examples on the following pages:

• Use MINIFS and MAXIFS functions (Excel 365, and Excel 2019 or later:)

• Use MIN IF or MAX IF formulas (earlier versions of Excel:)

5) Get the Excel Files ✅

1. Formulas: To see the MIN and MAX formulas, you can download the MIN and MAX sample file. The zipped file is in Excel xlsx format, and does not contain macros.

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More Tutorials

MINIFS / MAXIFS

MIN IF / MAX IF

AVERAGE

CHOOSE

INDEX / MATCH

TEXT