Using Nested Month Function

[jmripley]

My instructions tell me to use a "nested month function" to convert the date to a numerical month, using a VLOOKUP syntax. I have already used the formula =VLOOKUP(MONTH(A2),Quarters,2) in the cell. I'm not familiar with these functions, so any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[wigi]

Hello

What is the contents of "Quarters"?

 

[jmripley]

Hello

What is the contents of "Quarters"?

Quarters has four cells = Quarter1 Quarter2 Quarter3 Quarter4 (in reference to the quarters in a year).

 

[wigi]

What is the result of the VLOOKUP ?
Is this what was asked in the instructions ?

 

[njimack]

If you want to convert a date into a quarter, you can use:
="Quarter "&ROUNDUP(MONTH(A1)/3,0)

 

[T. Valko]

Quarters has four cells = Quarter1 Quarter2 Quarter3 Quarter4 (in reference to the quarters in a year).

Quarters (as a named range) would need to be a 2 column range like this (for purposes of demonstrating how VLOOKUP works):

Book1
	A	B	C	D	E
1	Date	Quarter	_	Month	Quarter
2	7/18/2012	Quarter3	_	1	Quarter1
3	_	_	_	4	Quarter2
4	_	_	_	7	Quarter3
5	_	_	_	10	Quarter4
Sheet1

Quarters refers to: =$D$2:$E$5

Your formula entered in B2:

=VLOOKUP(MONTH(A2),Quarters,2)

 

[jmripley]

Yes this is how the table looks:

Breakpoints	Quarter
1	Quarter 1
4	Quarter 2
7	Quarter 3
10	Quarter 4

<colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody>
</tbody>

 

[T. Valko]

Yes this is how the table looks:

Breakpoints	Quarter
1	Quarter 1
4	Quarter 2
7	Quarter 3
10	Quarter 4

<TBODY>
</TBODY>

OK, does your formula not return the correct result? If not, then what date do you have in cell A2 and what result do you get?

 

[jmripley]

My result is correct to return the Quarter, but they are now asking to use a "nested Month function" to return the month for each quarter. This is where I am stuck.

 

[T. Valko]

My result is correct to return the Quarter, but they are now asking to use a "nested Month function" to return the month for each quarter. This is where I am stuck.

Well, the lookup formula does contain a nested MONTH function as does the suggestion by Neil in post #5.

So, "nested Month function" is really ambiguous and open to interpretation.

Is this a school exercise? If so, then you may want to get more guidance on what you are expected to do with this.

There are many ways to get the calendar quarter from a date. Here are a couple:

A1 = some date

=CEILING(MONTH(A1)/3,1)

=INT((MONTH(A1)+2)/3)