Laurie,

A FORMULA performs mathematical calculations.  What you are looking for is
a FUNCTION.  However, your requirements are for a lookup function and a
comparison function as well as a logical function -- which means that you
will need to write a VBA sub-routine.

As a general overview, you will need to:
1. Create two variables.  One for the name and one for the number.
2. Assign the values from the first pair of cells (name & number) to two
variables.
3. Move down to the next row.
4. Compare the value of the number from the new row with the number stored
in step 2.
   5a. If the number is higher, store the name and number (from step 4)
          in the variables (from step 2).
   5b. If the number is not higher, check to see if that was the last
number in the table.
   5c. If it is NOT the last number, then go back to step 3.
6. Display the name and number currently stored in the variables and end
the subroutine.

A much simpler solutions is to just sort the table into descending order,
capture the name (select & copy, write it down, etc) that you need,  and
then UNDO the sort to put everything back as it was..... but that requires
temporarily re-ordering the table - which unfortunately you said you can't
do.

I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction.
Jim Meagher
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jacobs, Laurie <[log in to unmask]>

> Any Excel 97 experts out there ?
>
> What I need is a formula that will display the NAME (Alpha, Bravo etc)
of
> the cell with the highest number. The order of the cells cannot be
changed.
>
>
> Alpha   1234
> Bravo   2345
> Charlie 3456
> Delta   4567
>         ?
>

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