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“Not Equal to” in Excel Formula
Most of the time we need to use the “equal to” argument in logical functions and we do not find any difficulty in using this argument as we have the “equal to “symbol to denote this in the syntax of logical functions but sometimes we often want to insert “not equal to” in the logical functions of excel and here the actual difficulty starts as we do not have any key that denotes “Not equal to “argument to denote in the logical functions.
If we ever want to denote “not equal to” in excel then we need to use “<>” as the symbol to make excel understand that we mean “not equal to” as an expression. While inserting logical functions if we are using a function where we need to insert a condition where the variables should “not equal to” then we need to use the <> in double quotes to make excel understand to give true result if the condition of “not equal to” meets.
In excel we have an inbuilt function that is called as NOT function and this is the substitute of using the expression “<>” in case of logical functions.
The function of NOT was introduced to make the expression of “not equal to” easy and more understandable as using the code of “<>” sometimes makes it difficult to understand for the beginners of excel. Hence the function of NOT is considered as more useful to express the “not equal to” in excel.
Explanation of “Not Equal to” Operator in Excel Formula
Using “Not Equal to” argument in excel is the most important area that must be properly explored as this is not known to most of the people that how we can insert the expression of “Not Equal to” in the logical functions.
If “Not Equal to” expression is to be used in case of logical functions then we just simply need to use the expression of “<>” and these two brackets that are posing away from each other will make excel realize that we meant “Not Equal to” and hence we can then make the excel understand that what needs to be done.
Using “Not Equal to” in excel is required when the calculations are to be made in case of assuming some negative event.
This can be a case of what if no one comes to office, then how much deadlines will be missed. This can be a case of calculating the order quantity excluding the orders of Sunday. This may be the case of calculating the amount of rain in the years excluding some monsoon months. Hence whenever we need to exclude some of the cell’s value then, in that case, we use the expression of “Not Equal to”. In case of using Microsoft excel we can type the code 2260 and then press the shortcut key of Alt+X to make the sign ≠ appears but this cannot be done in case of Microsoft Excel as there is no shortcut key that will insert the sign of “Not Equal to” and hence this becomes important that we know how we can insert “Not Equal to” in excel.
So whenever we need to insert “Not Equal to” in excel simply use the expression “<>” and this will do the job.
How to Use “Not Equal” to Operator in Excel Formula?
Below are the Methods of using Not Equal to Operator.
#1 – Using “Not Equal To” to Test the Numeric Values and Text Values
In case of testing the numeric values begin typing with the equal to sign and insert the first cell and then sign of “<>” and then the second cell.
=B3<>A3
This will make excel validate if the value that is in the second cell does not match the value of the second cell.
In this case, Excel will give a result as “TRUE” if the condition is meet or “False” if the condition is not meet. This is the easiest way to check if two cells are not equal to each other. Not equal to in excel formulas will give result in only “True” or “false” format and will not tell us the magnitude.
Drag the Formula to get the rest of answers.
If we need to know the magnitude then we must use any of the below Not Equal to in Excel Formulas.
Not equal to for Text values.
#2 – Using “Not Equal To” in Excel IF Formula
In case of using “Not equal to” in IF formula in excel, we need to first understand what result we want if the condition meets and what result we need if it fails.
=IF(B2<>”A”,”Don’t call”,”Please Call”)
Now the value of cell B2 is not equal to “A” then the result will be “Don’t Call”.
If the value of cell B2 is “A” then we will get “Call” as the result.
By using the IF function we can make excel displays a different result for a matched condition and also for the unmatched conditions.
#3 – Using “Not Equal to” in Excel CountIF Formula
If we want to count items except for some of the items use this COUNTIF function with “Not Equal to”,
=COUNTIF($A$2:$A$17,”<>Apples”)
In this case, Excel will calculate the count of all items that are not”Apples”.
Here we have mentioned that “do not count Apples”.
#4 – Using “Not Equal to” in Excel SumIF Formula
In case we need to sum up items except for some of the items we can use this SUMIF function with “Not equal to “formula.
=SUMIF($A$2:$A$17,”<>Apples”,B2:B17)
Here the sum will be taken for all items except for the “Apples”.
Things to Remember About “Not Equal to” Excel Formula
- While using the “Not Equal to” in this should be remembered that “True” result means that cells are not equal. A “false” result would mean that the values of the cells are equal. The interpretation of True and False as a result is different as done in case of using the “Equal to” condition.
- This should be remembered that “A” is not equal to”a” for this function.
- In case of using “Not Equal to” in IF function we can consider “A” as “a” and both are equal.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to Not Equal to Excel Formula. Here we discuss how to use “Not Equal to” Operator in Excel to test the numeric values and Text Values using IF, SUMIF and COUNTIF along with practical examples and downloadable excel template. You may learn more about excel from the following articles –
- Excel Sum Shortcuts
- Excel IF Formula
- VBA OR Function
- COUNTIF Formula in Excel
- OR in Excel
- True in Excel
- Top Errors in Excel
- ISERROR Function
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