Anyone really good with formulae in Excel? Needing help.....

I dunno if this is a long shot but here goes:
I've got a row of 20 cells, some of which, randomly distributed, contain a numerical value. The number of cells containing a value is unknown. I want a formula which will find the sum of the highest 5 values in that row (or the sum of all of the values in the row if the number of populated cells is 5 or fewer). Oh yes, and sometimes the same value is repeated in different cells, so if the 5th and 6th highest numbers are both the same value, then one will need to be included in the sum but the other excluded.
Is there an easy way of doing this? My programming skills aren't up to much.
I can't even work out a long-winded way of doing it, let alone a slick elegant way.
Thanks!
Ruth
I've got a row of 20 cells, some of which, randomly distributed, contain a numerical value. The number of cells containing a value is unknown. I want a formula which will find the sum of the highest 5 values in that row (or the sum of all of the values in the row if the number of populated cells is 5 or fewer). Oh yes, and sometimes the same value is repeated in different cells, so if the 5th and 6th highest numbers are both the same value, then one will need to be included in the sum but the other excluded.
Is there an easy way of doing this? My programming skills aren't up to much.

Thanks!
Ruth
0
Posts
You could probably use the LARGE function to do that.
eg = LARGE(A:A,1) + LARGE(A:A,2)... + LARGE(A:A,5)
or for a row =large(10:10,1) etc
Richard
+1
Though I find database software a real nightmare :oops:
Hope this does the job for you.
Thanks all for your help.
Ruth