Microsoft KB Archive/214373

= XL2000: Incorrect Result Raising 10 to Very Large/Very Small Power =

Article ID: 214373

Article Last Modified on 10/6/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q214373





SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel 2000, if you type a formula in which the value of 10 is raised to a very large power or a very small power, the formula may return an incorrect result:   10 Raised to       Expected Result   Actual Result ---

very large power  #NUM! error      0, 0.1

very small power  0                 #DIV/0! error, 10^ NOTE: These problems do not occur in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel. Also, the problem does not occur when you raise a value other than 10 to a very large power or a very small power; for example: =9^2345678901 correctly returns a #NUM! error.



CAUSE
These problems occur when you type a formula in which the value of 10 is raised to a power in one of the following ranges:  Greater than or equal to 2^31 (2,147,483,648).

-and-

 Less than or equal to 10^308 (1 followed by 308 zeros).

-or-

 Less than or equal to -(2^31) (-2,147,483,648).

-and-

 Greater than or equal to -(10^308) (-1 followed by 308 zeroes).</ul>

For example: <pre class="fixed_text">  Formula you type          Value returned

=10^2147483648           0 This formula should return a #NUM! error, because the largest positive number allowed in Microsoft Excel is 9.99999999999999E+307, which is just less than 10^308.

Or: <pre class="fixed_text">  Formula you type          Value returned

=10^-2147483648          #DIV/0! =10^-4294966989          1E+307 These formulas should all return the value 0, because the smallest positive number allowed in Microsoft Excel is 9.99999999999999E-307, which is just higher than 0 (zero).

<div class="workaround_section">

WORKAROUND
To prevent this problem from occurring, make sure that formulas in your workbooks do not raise the value of 10 to a power larger than 308 or smaller than -308.

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft Excel supports positive values almost as large as 10^308 (a one followed by 308 zeros) and almost as small as 10^-308 (a decimal point, followed by 308 zeroes and a one). Similar negative values are also supported. Smaller values are rounded to 0 (zero), and larger values are converted into a #NUM! error value.

Additional query words: googol googolplex mantissa exponent XL2000

Keywords: kbprb KB214373

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