As Tim has pointed out, the [`MIN(number1,number2,...)`][min] function in excel works perfectly fine on dates in order to determine the earlier date.  Also, here's some more info on [adding days][days].

So you can use something like this:

    =MIN(A2:B2)+30

Which should like this:

![demo][demo]



[min]: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/min-HP005209176.aspx
[days]: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/add-dates-HP003056112.aspx
[demo]: http://i.imgur.com/JknjiPb.png

I created a worksheet where there are two dates:

1. `AppDate` 
2. `ActionDate` 

I need to calculate a new `ActionDate` that is 30 days after the earlier of the `AppDate` or `ActionDate` that is input.  

For example, I have an `AppDate` of 10/30/13 and an `ActionDate` of 11/1/13.  I need to calculate off of the 10/30/13 date to create the new action date (25 days out) and the 30 days from date.  

The first app and action dates may be the same or may be different.

Is there a way to do this?


Formula to calculate time frames

You can use the `INDEX` function to get the information from a particular set of coordinates.

For example, in this case, we'd get the value for the cell in the 5th row and the 1st column of the selected area:

![Index](http://i.imgur.com/i6uWzkT.png)

If we want to dynamically find those values, we can use `MATCH` to find the column or row number corresponding to our value like this:

    =INDEX($B$2:$D$6,5,MATCH($A10,$B$1:$D$1,0))

![Match](http://i.imgur.com/Vqm2rCt.png)

In this case the column number is dynamically pulled based on the item you're on.  The row number is hardcoded as row 5, but you can use the same technique to pull in a row number

The end result should look like this:

![Result](http://i.imgur.com/qN2WpRI.png)


Mark items based on criteria

From the article [Getting the 2nd matching value from a list using VLOOKUP formula][1],  you can create a helper column to affix the instance number of each value, to create unique id's.

For example, in Column C, add the following function:

    =A1&"-"&COUNTIF($A$1:A1,A1)

> **Note**: The relative reference on the count range will cause the applicable range to grow as it is dragged down.  The count of the items matching that cell in a range containing only that cell should always be one.  As it gets dragged down to include other cells, it will increment accordingly.

Then add the same thing in Column D to get the instances of cells in Column B:

    =B1&"-"&COUNTIF($B$1:B1,B1)

Finally, do the math you want to do in Column E like this:

    =IFERROR(MATCH(C1,D:D,0),0)

![Screenshot][2]


  [1]: http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/11/10/vlookup-second-value/
  [2]: http://i.stack.imgur.com/0tYef.png

I'm using excel and have two columns (A & B) with values

I want to search for each value in Column A and return the position in Column B.
I'm using this formula: 

    IFERROR(MATCH("Values in Column A";"Array = Column B";0);0)

The results are:  



    Column A  | Column B  | Column C
      1       |   4       |   2
      2       |   1       |   3
      3       |   2       |   4
      4       |   1       |   1
      1       |   2       |   2
              |   3       | 

It works fine if it doesn't encounter repeated values. However, I want it to encounter repeated values, so the formula should ignore the ones it was encountered before and go through the others. So the correct result should look like this:  



<pre><code>Column C  
  2  
  3  
  5  
  1  
  <b>4</b></code></pre>

Can you help me on this? Is there a VBA routine for this?