A couple of days ago, we shared some cool UNICODE characters, and today we’re going to check out their practical applications—making a zodiac and Chinese zodiac lookup! Here’s a sneak peek at the result:
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So, how do we create this without using any images? Let’s dive into the functions and characters!
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We’ve organized the basic information about zodiac signs and Chinese zodiacs, which will come in handy when we start writing formulas. If you want to spruce things up with colors, check out our previous tutorial (Excel can be really fun when you play with it!).
Now, how do we calculate someone’s Chinese zodiac based on their birthdate? We’ll use the lunar calendar algorithm, with the following formula:
L2: The cell containing the birth date.
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You can directly reference the zodiac symbols from our prepared data, or use UNICHAR to process them! Here’s how you can do it without any helper columns:
C5: Corresponding zodiac sign
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Of course, if you want a simpler approach, you can use VLOOKUP with the basic data prepared in advance.
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When it comes to zodiac signs, we can use date ranges or simplify the formula with LOOKUP. Nobody wants to write it with IF statements, right?
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For the symbols, you can write it without any helper areas like this:
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And if you do use helper areas, then VLOOKUP can take care of everything:
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We’ve included all the core information in the basic data image, so you can just refer to that for future use!
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For new friends, scan the QR code below to follow us:
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Thanks for the "threefold quality" (liking, commenting, and sharing)!
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