What does the VLOOKUP function do in Excel?

The VLOOKUP function in Excel is designed to look for a specific value in the first column of a table and then return a corresponding value from a specified column within that same row. This function is particularly useful for retrieving data from a large dataset where you need to find details related to a specific identifier or key value.

When using VLOOKUP, you specify the value you're searching for, the range of the table in which to search, the index number of the column from which you want to retrieve data, and finally, whether you want an exact match or an approximate match. This makes VLOOKUP an essential tool for tasks such as merging datasets, performing lookups, and performing data analysis where relationships between different datasets exist.

The other choices do not accurately describe the purpose of VLOOKUP. For instance, searching in the last row or counting cells does not align with the function’s capability, nor does returning the maximum value from a dataset. These tasks are performed by different functions in Excel such as COUNT or MAX. Thus, the description of VLOOKUP as finding a value based on the first column and retrieving data from a specified column is the correct and complete representation of its functionality.