Practice the MATCH function in Google Sheets: find the position of a value in a row or column.
Task 1 of 2
At what position in the list A2:A11 does the name in D2 appear? Answer in E2.
E2
fx
Tip: while typing a formula, click a cell or drag across cells to insert references. Press Enter to check, and Tab to accept a function suggestion.
Finding a position with MATCH
=MATCH(search_key, range, [search_type])
MATCH tells you where something is: its position in a single row or column. It doesn't return the value itself.
search_type: use 0 for an exact match. The default (1) assumes sorted data and finds the largest value ≤ the key, which is rarely what you want for names or IDs.
=MATCH("Apr", B1:G1, 0) → 4
That position number is exactly what INDEX needs, which is why the two are so often used together.