What is the use of MIN Function in Excel?

Data Science, AI and ML
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The MIN Excel function is used to find out the minimum value from a given set of data/ array. It returns the minimum value from a given set of numeric values. It will count numbers but ignore empty cells, text, the logical values TRUE and FALSE, and text values.

  • Purpose: Get the smallest value.
  • Return value: The smallest value in supplied data

Syntax

=MIN (number1, [number2], ...)

  • Arguments

number1 - Number, reference to a numeric value, or range that contains numeric values.

number2 - [optional] Number, reference to numeric value, or range that contains numeric values.

Example:

The MIN function returns the smallest numeric value in supplied data:

=MIN(12,17,25,11,23) // returns 11

The MIN function can accept values as separate arguments or in ranges or arrays:

=MIN(5,10) 
=MIN(A1,A2,A3) 
=MIN(A1:A10) 
=MIN(A1:A10,C1:C10)

MIN ignores logical values and numbers entered as text, unless they are provided as arguments:

=MIN(5,TRUE) 
// returns 1 
=MIN(7,5,"3")
// returns 3