Pulling Values With INDEX

The INDEX function answers a simple question: "What value lives at a specific position in a range?" You give it a block of cells and a row number, and it hands back whatever sits there.

Think of a range like a numbered list. INDEX is like saying "give me item number 3." It does not search for anything by name yet, it just grabs by position.

This makes INDEX the perfect partner for retrieving values once you know where they are.

The simplest form of INDEX takes two pieces of information:

• array — the range of cells to look in
• row_num — which row of that range to return

So =INDEX(B2:B6, 3) reads: "From the range B2:B6, return the value in the 3rd position." If B2:B6 holds names, this returns the 3rd name.

The row number is counted inside the range, not from the top of the sheet.