Quick Question about VLOOK UP

[sneakyelf]

Hi all,

VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, range_lookup)

going over some VLOOK UP basics, my question is what does it mean that
If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in the first column
of table_array, VLOOKUP returns the #N/A error value? how does it
determine the smallest value? also, what if the value is not
numerical?

thanks for clarifying it for me!