ARGS2ARRAY

Uses the specified arguments to create an array

Syntax:

ARGS2ARRAY(arguments)

arguments can be either a range, or multiple arguments separated by commas.

Example:

If A1:A10 contains numbers 1 to 10:

ARGS2ARRAY(A1:A10)

returns [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

If A1 contains 1 and A2 contains 2:

ARGS2ARRAY(A1, A2)

returns [1,2]

B1 contains ARGS2ARRAY(A1:A10) and B2 contains ARGS2ARRAY(A1, A2)

	A	B
1	1	[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
2	2	[1,2]
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	10

Application:

A Data Entry Clerk

Imagine you are a manager and you have a new data entry clerk. This clerk's job is to process a list of sales transactions. Each transaction is a row on a spreadsheet, and the format is always the same: Product ID, Product Name, and then a series of quarterly sales numbers.

The Sales Spreadsheet:

	Product ID	Product Name	Q1 Sales	Q2 Sales	Q3 Sales	Q4 Sales
	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	P001	Laptop	$12,000.00	$15,500.00	$14,200.00	$18,100.00
2	P002	Smartphone	$8,500.00	$9,200.00	$10,500.00	$9,800.00
3	P003	Tablet	$6,200.00	$5,800.00	$6,700.00	$7,100.00
4	P004	Monitor	$4,500.00	$5,100.00	$4,900.00	$5,500.00

The Clerk's Function:

You give the clerk a specific task for each product: "Calculate the total annual sales, and find the highest and lowest quarterly sales."

Instead of giving the clerk a complicated set of instructions like: "Look at column C, then column D, then column E, then column F, and add them all up," you give them a simpler, more powerful instruction that acts like ARGS2ARRAY:

"For each row, take the group of all the sales numbers, and put them in a temporary list."

The command: ARGS2ARRAY(temporary_sales_list, Quarter 1 Sales, Quarter 2 Sales, Quarter 3 Sales, Quarter 4 Sales)

Clerk's actions for the "Laptop" row:
1. The clerk reads the sales numbers: 12000, 15500, 14200, 18100.
2. They follow your instruction, ARGS2ARRAY, which means they mentally create a temporary list: [12000, 15500, 14200, 18100].

The calculation: Now that all the sales numbers are in one list, the clerk can easily perform the required tasks with simple, repetitive steps:

- To get the total: They just add up every number in the temporary_sales_list.
- To find the highest: They scan through the temporary_sales_list and pick out the largest number.
- To find the lowest: They scan through the temporary_sales_list and pick out the smallest number.

Why this is an ARGS2ARRAY analogy:

This scenario perfectly illustrates the function's purpose. It takes a series of individual, discrete items (the "arguments" like Quarter 1 Sales, Quarter 2 Sales, etc.) and automatically organizes them into a single, cohesive collection (the "array" or temporary_sales_list). This makes the subsequent processing (calculating the total, min, and max) much more straightforward and less dependent on knowing the exact number of sales columns. If you add Quarter 5 Sales, you only need to update the ARGS2ARRAY command, not the entire calculation process.