Article ID: 214373
Article Last Modified on 10/6/2003
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
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^<some value>
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).
For example:
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:
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).
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.
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
