2 ms·
Under infinite precision the probability of selecting this particular expression to evaluate is zero. Under finite precision it is small. However, it raises th
by henning 19y ago
Under infinite precision the probability of selecting this particular expression to evaluate is zero. Under finite precision it is small.
However, it raises the question of what other errors Excel has. Excel has had other serious mathematical errors in the past - like the standard deviation function. In Excel 97, if you wrote down a sequence of large numbers with a standard deviation much less than the mean (1e10, 1e10 + 1, ..., 1e10 + 10, say) it would say the standard deviation is equal to zero!
Furthermore it doesn't help that there's always a total lack of transparency in how Microsoft handles bugs. We have no way of knowing whether Microsoft knows about this, if or when they intend to fix it, and what other problems this could possibly hint it. Megalomaniacal megacorporations are so banal.
- jey 19y agoIt's not just one expression, there's a whole family of expressions that should evaluate to 65535 which evaluate to 100000 under Excel 2007.