Find which band a value falls into, like a tax or commission bracket.
Copy this formula
=VLOOKUP(A2, Brackets, 2, TRUE)With TRUE (approximate match), VLOOKUP returns the row for the largest bracket value that's still ≤ the lookup value. The bracket table must be sorted ascending by its first column. Great for grading, tiers, and tax bands.
=VLOOKUP(72000, TaxTable, 2, TRUE)→22%Finds the tax rate for this income band.
XLOOKUP next-smaller
=XLOOKUP(A2, Limits, Rates, , -1)Match mode -1 finds the next smaller item.
Approximate match needs the lookup column sorted ascending. Sort it and re-check.
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