Hi,
Hope this is appropriate (place) to ask this...
I have a column of numbers in a spreadsheet (LO Calc as it happens). I want to check that this column of numbers, and the precise order of them, are unique. This is because I'll have many such columns of numbers and I want to check that I don't indvertently duplicate them.
One approach is illustrated in the image (where the column of numbers I want to test for uniqueness is column headed 'operations'):
Here, the final number in the bottom-right cell will be a 'prime-hash' (loose terminology). It = the multiplication of all (Prime^operation)_i * (Prime^operation)_(i+1) *..., etc, etc - where i is the first row in the table.
It does give unique 'prime-hash' values, but it blows up pretty quickly. So it's not suitable for my current needs.
So is there a relatively simple way to implement a hash-checksum-like operation in a spreadsheet? I wouldn't mind if it flagged up a small number of false-positives 'cos I could check these manually.
Anyway, just looking for some thoughts or pointers.
Much appreciated.