Small function

This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the SMALL function in Microsoft Excel.

Description

Returns the k-th smallest value in a data set. Use this function to return values with a particular relative standing in a data set.

Syntax

SMALL(array, k)

The SMALL function syntax has the following arguments:

• Array    Required. An array or range of numerical data for which you want to determine the k-th smallest value.

• K    Required. The position (from the smallest) in the array or range of data to return.

Remarks

• If array is empty, SMALL returns the #NUM! error value.

• If k ≤ 0 or if k exceeds the number of data points, SMALL returns the #NUM! error value.

• If n is the number of data points in array, SMALL(array,1) equals the smallest value, and SMALL(array,n) equals the largest value.

Example

Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.

Data 1	Data 2
3	1
4	4
5	8
2	3
3	7
4	12
6	54
4	8
7	23
Formula	Description (Result)	Result
=SMALL(A2:A10,4)	4th smallest number in first column (4)	4
=SMALL(B2:B10,2)	2nd smallest number in the second column (3)	3