Lookup arrays in Excel

Excel provides several functions for looking up values in a table or array. One of the most commonly used lookup functions is VLOOKUP, which allows you to search for a value in the leftmost column of a range and return a corresponding value from a specific column in the same row.

To use a lookup array in Excel, you need to have a table or array with a leftmost column containing the values you want to search for. The lookup array can have multiple columns, but the value to be searched must be in the leftmost column. You can then use the VLOOKUP function or other lookup functions to find the desired value.

For example, suppose you have a table with employee names in the first column and their corresponding salaries in the second column. If you want to find the salary of a specific employee, you can use the VLOOKUP function with the employee name as the lookup value and the range containing the employee names and salaries as the lookup array.