Syntax issue to find a cell.

Question

Hello,
I have a tab in which I need to find the highest number, which I do with the following in A2 in a second tab (which I use to extract the interesting datas of the first one) :
=MAX(tab1 :: K4:Z65)
In the next cell, I need to get the the content imediately above the cell containing the highest number of tab1. I tried this in B2 :
=OFFSET(INDIRECT(A2),-1,0)
But it returns an error. My guess is that INDIRECT(A2) considers only the result of MAX(tab1 :: K4:Z65) and not the reference to the cell containing the highest number.
How can I get the address of the cell to which MAX(tab1 :: K4:Z65) points ?
I've also tried : =OFFSET(MAX(tab1 :: K4:Z65),-1,0) but it doesn't work either, I get that a reference is expected but a number found instead.
Thanks a lot !

Answer 1

Hi Fuomono,
OFFSET requires a cell reference for the first argument. INDIRECT constructs a cell address by reading that address in another cell, or by constructing that address from the contents of one or more cells and optional fixed text in the fomula.
Examples:
A1 contains the text string "B5": =INDIRECT(A1) returns the contents of cell B5
A1 contains the number 6:          =INDIRECT("B"&A1) returns the contents of cell B6
Neither is particularly useful to your situation.
Here's a different way, using OFFSET, MATCH, and MAX to return the value in the cell above a cell containing the maximum value in the specified range. To make the table readable, I've used a smaller table of values:
The maximum value is returned by the simple formula  =MAX(B4:E18)  in A2 of the small table.
Locating the cell above the maximum requires an auxiliary column on Table 1. This column may be hidden.
F4, and filled down: =IFERROR(MATCH(MAX($B$2:$E$18),B4:E4,0)," ")
The formula places a number in each row containing the maximum value in the range. The number indicates the column containing the value in that row. Note that in the example, the maximum (100) appears twice, in column 1 (B) of row 14 and in column 4 (E) of row 18.
In B2 of Table 2, the formula uses the largest value in this column, and its position on the list, to return the value from the cell above the one containing the MAX value.
B2: =OFFSET(Table 1 :: $A$1,MATCH(4,Table 1 :: F,1)-2,MAX(Table 1 :: F))
Note the change in MATCH's third argument: 0 in the first formula, requiring an exact match, and causing an error (caught by IFERROR) if the value in not found, 1 in the second formula, accepting the "largest value less than or equal to the search value" as a match.
The search value is Match's first argument, 4, the furthest right column of the value table.
If the MAX value occurs more than once, the occurrence that is in the column furthest to the right will be chosen. If more than one MAX occurs in the same rightmost column, then the rightmost match that is closest to the bottom of the table will be the one used.
The MATCH function here determines the row offset from the base cell; the Max value in column F determines the column offset. To retrieve the value from the cell above MAX, the row offset must be reduced by 2. Because the base cell is one column to the left of the first column of the value table, no adjustment is needed to the column offset.
Regards,
Barry