The Excel MIN Function

Excel Min vs. Excel Mina

The Excel Min function is very similar to the Excel Mina Function.

The only difference between the two functions arises when an argument is supplied to the function as a reference to a cell or an array of cells.

In this case the Min function ignores logical and text values, while the Mina function counts the logical value TRUE as 1, the logical value FALSE as 0 and text values as 0.

Function Description

The Excel MIN function returns the smallest value from a supplied set of numeric values.

The syntax of the function is:

MIN( number1, [number2], ... )

where the number arguments are one or more numeric values (or arrays of numeric values), that you want to return the smallest value of.

In current versions of Excel (Excel 2007 & later), you can provide up to 255 number arguments to the Min function, but in Excel 2003, the function can only accept up to 30 number arguments.

If an argument is supplied to the function as a reference to a cell, or an array of cells, the Min function will ignore blank cells, and text or logical values contained within the supplied cell range. However, logical values and text representations of numbers that are supplied directly to the function will be included in the calculation.


Excel Min Function Example

Cell B1 of the following spreadsheet shows the Excel Min function, used to retrieve the smallest value from the set of values in cells A1-A5.

 Formulas:
  A B
1 4 =MIN( A1:A5 )
2 3  
3 1  
4 5  
5 2  
 Results:
  A B
1 4 1
2 3  
3 1  
4 5  
5 2  

Further examples of the Excel Min function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.


Min Function Error

If you get an error from the Excel Min Function, this is likely to be the #VALUE! error:

Common Error
#VALUE! - Occurs if any values that are supplied directly to the Min function are non-numeric.