I'm trying to make a LibreOffice spreadsheet formula that populates a column based on another input column, comparing each input with a series of range pairs defined in another sheet and finally outputting a symbol based on matched criteria. I have a series of ranges that specify a - output, and another series that corresponds to +, but not all inputs will fall into a category. I am using this trinary output later for another expression, which I already have in place.
My question becomes: how can I test input against each range pair without spelling out the cell coordinates for each individual cell (ie OR(AND(">= $A$1", "< $B$1"), AND(">=$A$2", "<$B$2"), ...))? Ideally I could just specify an array to compare against like $A$1:$B$4. Writing it in a python macro would work, too, since I don't plan on sharing this file.
I wrote a really quick list comp in python to illustrate what I'm after. This snippet would be one half, such as testing - qualification, and these values may be fed into a condition that outputs the symbol:
>>> def cmp(f, r):
... return r[0] <= f < r[1]
>>> f = (1, 2, 3)
>>> ranges = ((2, 5), (4, 6), (3, 8))
>>> [any([cmp(i, r) for r in ranges]) for i in f]
[False, True, True]
Here is a small test example with real input and real ranges.
Change the range pairs so that they are in two columns starting from A13. Be sure that they are in sorted order (Data -> Sort).
A B C
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~
145.1000 145.5000 -
146.0000 146.4000 +
146.6000 147.0000 -
147.0000 147.4000 +
147.6000 148.0000 -
440.0000 445.0000 +
In each row, specify whether it is negative or positive. To do this, I entered the following formula in C13 and filled down. If the range pairs are not consistent enough then enter values for C13 and below manually.
=IF(ISODD(ROW());"-";"+")
Now, enter the following formula in cell C3 and fill down.
=IFNA(IF(
VLOOKUP(A3;A$13:C$18;2;1) >= A3;
VLOOKUP(A3;A$13:C$18;3;1);
"None");"None")
The formula finds the closest pair and then checks if the number is inside that range or not. For better testing, I would also suggest using 145.7000 as input, which should result in no shift if I understood the question correctly.
The results in column C:
-
+
None
None
Documentation: VLOOKUP, IFNA, ROW.
EDIT:
The following formula produces correct results for the example data you gave, and it works for anything between 144.0 and 148.0.
=IFNA(VLOOKUP(A3;A$13:C$18;3;1); "None")
However, 150.0 produces - and 550.0 produces +. If that is not what you want, then use the formula above that has two VLOOKUP expressions.