Re: [libreoffice-users] Can I do this in Calc?

At 18:08 04/07/2014 -0400, Pikov Andropov wrote:
> I have a list of names in column A. I would like to click something 
> and produce a list of random pairs, say in col B.
>
> For example, suppose I have
>
> Jack
> Jill
> Sam
> Susan
> Bill
> Joe
>
> I click and get
>
> Jack, Jill
> Joe, Susan
> Sam, Bill
>
> I don't save the result, and the next tie I run it, I get
>
> Sam, Jack
> Bill, Joe
> Susan, Jill

What you are doing is really just shuffling your six names.
o Do you want to retain the names in their original order in column 
A? If so, copy the names to column B.
o In column C, enter =RAND() and fill it down the relevant part of the column.
o Select the relevant rows in columns B and C.
o Go to Data | Sort... and sort by column C.

The values in column B will be shuffled according to the random 
values in column C. An incidental effect of this is to recalculate 
the random values in column C, so all you need to do to produce 
another shuffling is to repeat the sort process, which will use those 
new random values.

If you actually need the values in pairs as you have described, you 
can use something like
=INDIRECT("B"&ROW()*2-1)&", "&INDIRECT("B"&ROW()*2)
in another column.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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