Final answer:
Excel performs binary search to find the closest matching value and returns the corresponding value from another column.
Step-by-step explanation:
When the VLOOKUP type is TRUE and the key data is sorted in ascending order, Excel performs the following steps:
- First, it searches for the largest value that is less than or equal to the lookup value. It does this by using binary search algorithm.
- Next, it checks if this value matches the lookup value exactly. If not, it moves on to the next step.
- Finally, it returns the corresponding value from the same row in the specified column.
For example, if you have a sorted list of student names and you want to find the grade of a specific student, you can use VLOOKUP with the type set to TRUE. Excel will find the closest matching name and return the corresponding grade.