Excel’s Greater Than or Equal To (>=) operator is a comparison operator. It compares two values of the same data type.
It returns TRUE if the greater than or equal to condition is met; otherwise, it returns FALSE.
Sometimes you may need to use the Greater Than or Equal To (>=) operator in Excel formulas.
In this tutorial, we will cover seven examples of using the Greater Than or Equal To operator in Excel formulas.
Example #1: Use the Greater Than or Equal to Operator to Compare Two Values
In this example, we will use the ‘greater than or equal to’ operator in a formula to compare two values and returns TRUE if the comparison condition is met and FALSE if it is not.
Suppose a particular college only approves applicants at least 25 years of age. The following dataset is a list of those who have applied for admission.
We use the >= operator to compare each applicant’s age with the number 25 and return TRUE if the applicant meets the admission age criterion and FALSE if they don’t.
Below are the steps to do this:
- Select cell C2 and type in the following formula:
=B2>=25
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula (or press the Enter key on your keyboard).
- Drag down or double-click the fill handle to copy the formula down the column.
The formula results show that four applicants meet the admission criterion of at least 25 years of age and two applicants do not.
Also read: ‘Does Not Equal’ Operator in Excel (Examples)
Example #2: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator With the SUMIF and DATE Functions
This example uses the ‘greater than or equal to’ operator with the SUMIF and DATE functions to return the number of approved applicants admitted to a college in the second half of 2022.
The SUMIF function sums the range specified by a given condition. The DATE function returns the number that represents the date in the Microsoft Excel date-time code.
The following dataset shows the students admitted to a particular college in 2022.
We want to determine the number of students admitted in the second half of 2022.
We proceed as follows:
- Select cell F3 and type in the following formula:
=COUNTIF(D2:D5,">="&DATE(2022,6,1))
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula.
The number of students admitted in the last half of 2022 is displayed in cell F3.
Also read: How to Use Excel If Statement with Multiple Conditions Range
Example #3: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator with the IF Function
This example returns a customized message using the ‘greater than or equal to’ operator and the IF function.
The IF function checks for the given condition and returns TRUE if the condition is met and returns FALSE is the condition is not met
Presume a particular college only approves applicants at least 25 years of age. The following dataset is a list of those who have applied for admission.
We use the >= operator together with the IF function to return the message “Approved” if the applicant meets the age criterion and “Not Approved” if the applicant does not meet the criterion.
We use the steps below:
- Select cell C2 and type in the following formula:
=IF(B2>=25,"Approved","Not Approved")
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula.
- Drag down or double-click the fill handle to copy the formula down the column.
The formula results show that four applicants are approved and two are not.
Example #4: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator with the SUMIF Function
In this example, we will use the >= operator with the SUMIF function to return the sum of sales of at least $1,500.
The SUMIF function adds the cells specified by a specific condition or criteria.
The following dataset shows the sales made on a particular day.
We want to calculate the sum of sales of at least $1,500.
We use the following steps:
- Select cell D4 and type in the formula below:
=SUMIF(B2:B10,">="&1500)
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula.
The sum of sales of at least $1,500 is displayed in cell D4.
Example #5: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator with the AND Function
In this example, we will use a formula that combines the >= operator with the AND function to return TRUE for those students who scored at least 80% in both the theory and practical exams.
Conversely, the formula returns FALSE if the student did not score at least 80% in the theory and practical exams.
The AND function checks whether all the arguments are TRUE and returns TRUE if all the arguments are TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE.
The following dataset shows some students’ scores in the theory and practical exams. A student only passes the exam if they score at least 80% in the theory and practical exams.
We want the value TRUE displayed in column D if a student scored at least 80% in the theory and practical exams; otherwise, show FALSE.
We use the following steps:
- Select cell D2 and type in the following formula:
=AND(B2>=80%,C2>=80%)
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula.
- Drag down or double-click the fill handle to copy the formula down the column.
The formula’s results indicate that two students passed the exam and two students failed the exam.
Example #6: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator with the OR Function
In this example, we will use a formula that combines the ‘greater than or equal to’ operator with the OR function to return TRUE for those students who scored at least 80% in either the theory or practical exam.
Conversely, the formula returns FALSE if the student did not score at least 80% in the theory or practical exam.
The OR function checks whether any arguments are TRUE and returns TRUE. It returns FALSE if none of the arguments are TRUE.
The following dataset shows some students’ scores in the theory and practical exams. A student only passes the exam if they score at least 80% in the theory or practical exams.
We want the value TRUE displayed in column D if a student scored at least 80% in either the theory or practical exams; otherwise, show FALSE.
We proceed as follows:
- Select cell D2 and type in the formula below:
=OR(B2>=80%,C2>=80%)
- Click the Enter button on the formula bar to enter the formula.
- Drag down or double-click the fill handle to copy the formula down the column.
The formula results show that three students passed the exam and one student failed the exam.
Example #7: Use the Greater Than or Equal To Operator to Compare Text Strings
We can use the “Greater Than or Equal “ operator to compare text values.
Note that Excel uses the alphabetic order of characters to determine whether a text value is equal to or greater than another text value. The smallest text value is “a,” and the greatest text value is “z.”
The following example dataset demonstrates Excel’s alphabetic algorithm for determining whether one text string is greater than or equal to another.
Explanation of the example dataset
- The Greater Than or Equal To operator returned TRUE in cell C2 because “Mary” and “mary” have the same alphabetic characters in the same order. It ignores the capitalization of the letters though
- The >= operator returned FALSE in cell C3 because alphabetically, the character “D” in “Daniel” comes before the character “E” in “Esther.”
- The >= operator returned TRUE in cell C4 because alphabetically, the character “Z” in “Zebra” comes after the character “X” in “Xylophone.”
This tutorial has shown seven examples of how to use the “Greater Than or Equal To” operator in Excel.
While it’s not as commonly used alone, it has a lot of utility when combined with other formulas such as IF or SUMIF, or COUNTIF.
We hope you found the tutorial helpful.
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