Which pair of functions is commonly used to look up a value by matching a date and returning a corresponding value from a table?

Which pair of functions is commonly used to look up a value by matching a date and returning a corresponding value from a table?

• A. INDEX and MATCH
• B. VLOOKUP and MATCH
• C. HLOOKUP and INDEX
• D. LOOKUP and INDEX

Answer: (D)

When you need to find a value by matching a date and return the corresponding entry from a table, the common approach is to use a combination of MATCH and INDEX. MATCH locates the position of the date in the lookup range, and INDEX pulls the value from the data range at that position. For a simple case where dates are in a column and the values you want are in the adjacent column, you’d use: INDEX(B2:B100, MATCH(date_to_find, A2:A100, 0)) The 0 in MATCH means an exact match. If you’re working with a two-dimensional table (dates in one column and multiple data columns across the top), you can extend it with two MATCH calls: INDEX(B2:E100, MATCH(date_to_find, A2:A100, 0), MATCH(metric_header, B1:E1, 0)) This pattern is preferred over alternatives like VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP, which require the lookup value to be in a specific position (leftmost column or top row) and are less flexible. It’s also more reliable than LOOKUP, which can produce incorrect results if the data isn’t sorted or has duplicates.

When you need to find a value by matching a date and return the corresponding entry from a table, the common approach is to use a combination of MATCH and INDEX. MATCH locates the position of the date in the lookup range, and INDEX pulls the value from the data range at that position.

For a simple case where dates are in a column and the values you want are in the adjacent column, you’d use:

INDEX(B2:B100, MATCH(date_to_find, A2:A100, 0))

The 0 in MATCH means an exact match. If you’re working with a two-dimensional table (dates in one column and multiple data columns across the top), you can extend it with two MATCH calls:

INDEX(B2:E100, MATCH(date_to_find, A2:A100, 0), MATCH(metric_header, B1:E1, 0))

This pattern is preferred over alternatives like VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP, which require the lookup value to be in a specific position (leftmost column or top row) and are less flexible. It’s also more reliable than LOOKUP, which can produce incorrect results if the data isn’t sorted or has duplicates.