How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

Google Sheets has around 2 billion users all around the world. It is the application with the most user base in the entire world. There are multiple advantageous features that Google Sheets has to offer for its users. 

Anyone from anywhere in the world can access Google Sheets without installing any software or applications because it is an online web application that can be operated using a web browser. You don’t have to jeopardize the security of your system by installing multiple software to edit your spreadsheet data because Google Sheet offers it by using just a web browser. 

One of the best features of Google Sheets is that it reduces our workload significantly. What required hundreds of hours of analysis by data managers would require only a few minutes in Google Sheets to accomplish. 

In this post, we are going to see what is not equal function and how to use the not equal function to make our data modifying process much easier. 

What Is Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

The not equal symbol in Google Sheets is <>. The not equal is more of a logical operator than just a symbol. It is a crucial function that can be used to analyze thousands of data in an instant. 

Each function has its own use. We are going to first learn what not equal symbol means and can do, which will help the users. 

The does not equal symbol is just the straight opposite of the equal (=) symbol. This logical operator will help us cross-check the given data efficiently and can analyze whether each data are equal or not equal to a specific value. 

You might be confused a bit, but a logical operator is not a new concept for you, even if you think so. You just don’t know it yet. If you continue reading, you can find that the a does not equal logical operator is a well-known concept for you. 

Let us say, for example, 5 tomatoes equals 5 tomatoes. But 5 tomatoes is not equal (<>) to 10 tomatoes. The 5 tomatoes are either greater or smaller than 10 tomatoes. In this case, they are smaller. Ultimately, the 5 tomatoes are not equal to 10 tomatoes. 

We will use the not equal logical operator to find out whether the given data is equal or not equal to other data provided. 

You may think that why don’t we use equal to (=) to determine whether the given data is equal or not equal to other data? 

Let us take the tomatoes for example again. 5 tomatoes are equal to 5 tomatoes. They are not equal to 1, 2, 3, or even 10 tomatoes. What if you have to check whether the 5 tomatoes are equal to 100 or 1000 tomatoes? You have to specify each and every data until the last to determine whether the result is true or false. 

But the <> not equal logical operator gives us an edge in this situation and helps us to check to cross-check with other data efficiently without having to run them through every data we have (manually).

How To Use Not Equal Operator In Google Sheets?

Let us say the names in column A are living in three different cities. The three different cities are named 1, 2, and 3. We are going to find out whether these people are living or not living in city 3. 

How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

1. Create a list of names and enter the cities you wish. Make sure you don’t enter the same city for every one of them. Each city should appear only three times. 

2. Then, go to column C. We are going to use this column to find the results. Now, type =B2<>3.

How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

3. Then click Enter. This will show whether the second row in Column B is not equal to 3. Then click on the Fill Handle to apply the same formula to every row with data. 

How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets
How To Use Not Equal Symbol In Google Sheets

As you can see in the picture, the people who actually live in City 3 had FALSE as their result. This means our function has properly worked. It says that Teja, Bob, and Christine are the three people who are living in City 3, and others are living in other cities.