find a row index of a number that occurred first

Question

I have A column that has values in random order like

       A column            2            3            4            2            5            6            4            3            4 

I want the row index of a particular number that occurred first. say if i say the number is 4 the value returned should be 3

I also want the row index of a particular number that occured last.say if i say the number is 3 then the value returned must be 8

I was thinking Vlookup or find function must do the task but unable to put them in order.please help me with these

Answer 1

My examples are looking for the number 3 but it is easy to adapt.

To find the first occurence, you can use:

=MATCH(3,A:A,0) 

To find the last one, you can use an array formula (validate with Ctrl+Shift+Enter)

{=MAX(IF(A1:A10=3,ROW(A1:A10),0))} 

Note that you could also have used an array formula for the first one with a MIN but it would be quite complicated for what it's worth.