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averaging a column of letter grades into a numeric GPA

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David Aukerman

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Sep 22, 2009, 2:36:01 PM9/22/09
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In my spreadsheet, column A contains letter grades (A, A-, B+, etc.). I have
a GPA reference table in F1:G11, with F1="A", G1=4; F2="A-", G2=3.67; and so
forth.

Now, I know how to use VLOOKUP to turn an individual letter grade into a GPA
value. In B2, I have the formula =VLOOKUP(A2,$F$1:$G$11,2,FALSE), and that
works fine.

What I want to do is to find the average GPA value of all the letter grades
in column A. That's easy if I create a new column of data, column B,
containing copies of the formula given above. But I don't want that
intermediate step. How can I get the average GPA value without creating a
new column of data?

Many thanks.

T. Valko

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Sep 22, 2009, 2:55:41 PM9/22/09
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Try this...

=SUMPRODUCT(SUMIF(F1:F5,A1:A10,G1:G5))/COUNTA(A1:A10)

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"David Aukerman" <DavidA...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Daryl S

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Sep 22, 2009, 2:59:01 PM9/22/09
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David -

Use the AVERAGE function and select the range of cells containing the
converted grades (that is the VLOOKUPs).

--
Daryl S

David Aukerman

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Sep 22, 2009, 3:31:02 PM9/22/09
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Daryl,

That would do it, but I don't want to have a column of converted grades.
Biff's solution above is more what I was looking for.

Thanks,
--David

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