Excel Lookup Value in Another Sheet

What this does

A p-value is not a generic spreadsheet statistic; it comes from a specific hypothesis test. Excel can calculate p-values with T.TEST, Z.TEST, CHISQ.TEST and Data Analysis ToolPak outputs. The right function depends on the design, distribution assumptions and whether the test is one-tailed or two-tailed. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. For “excel lookup value in another sheet”, the reliable version is a short checking loop, not just the first command that appears to work. Run it on a deliberately small range first, watch how the affected sheet change, and only then apply the same setup to the full sheet. When a formula is involved, keep the inputs labelled beside it, reference cells instead of typing values, and apply number formatting only after the result checks out. That is what makes a layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable useful in real work: repeatable, auditable, and not dependent on memory or luck.

A worked example

Scores before training are in A2:A21 and after training in B2:B21 for separate groups. =T.TEST(A2:A21,B2:B21,2,2) returns the two-tailed p-value for a two-sample equal-variance t-test. If p is 0.03 and alpha is 0.05, the difference is statistically significant under that test. P-value content needs caution because users can easily produce a number that looks authoritative but comes from the wrong test. A practical tip before you scale it up: build it once on a small block of test data, confirm the number against the tool on this page, and only then point it at your real sheet. That one habit catches almost every mistake while it is still cheap to fix, long before a wrong figure reaches a report or a colleague.

In Google Sheets

If you are in Google Sheets rather than Excel, the good news is that the formula shown here is identical and the workflow barely changes — menus sit across the top instead of in a ribbon, and a few function names differ slightly, but anything you build here moves across with little or no rework. Nothing on this page is behind a login or a download: the exact answer is at the top, and the detail below it is there for when you need it. That is the whole promise here — the answer first, and just enough context to make it stick. Treat “excel lookup value in another sheet” as a small building block rather than a chore. Once the inputs sit in their own cells and the formula reads from them, the same setup answers a dozen related questions with a tweak, and Excel keeps every dependent figure current as the data changes. The tool above is there so you can rehearse and verify before committing anything to a real workbook; the steps and worked example are there so the logic sticks. Get it right once and it stops costing you time — it starts saving it, every time the question comes back around.

Common mistakes

• Using T.TEST for every p-value question.
• Ignoring paired versus unpaired samples.
• Treating p-value as effect size.
• Changing one-tailed versus two-tailed after seeing results.

Frequently asked questions