What is the VLOOKUP function used for in Excel?

The VLOOKUP function in Excel is utilized to search for a specific value in the first column of a designated table or range and then return a corresponding value from a specified column in that table. This function is particularly useful for comparing and extracting data from large datasets where finding information quickly is necessary.

When you use VLOOKUP, you specify the value you want to search for, the range of the table that contains the data, the column number from which to retrieve the value, and an option for approximate or exact matches. This functionality makes it ideal for tasks like looking up product prices, retrieving employee details based on ID numbers, or referencing data from different sources within a spreadsheet.

The other choices do not pertain to the primary purpose of the VLOOKUP function. Creating graphs and charts relates to data visualization, counting cells that meet specific criteria involves functions like COUNTIF, and formatting cell styles pertains to the appearance of cells rather than retrieving data. Thus, the correct application of VLOOKUP is specifically about searching and retrieving data based on a lookup value from the first column of a table.