Formula Returns Unexpected Positive Value

In Microsoft Excel, when you use a minus sign (-) as a negation operator (for example -1) in a formula, the negation operator has higher precedence than a binary operator. This order of precedence may mean that a formula returns a positive value when you expect it to return a negative value. For example, the formula

=-2^2

is evaluated as:

(-2)^2

The minus sign is evaluated as a negation operator. The formula returns a positive value, 4.

Microsoft Excel uses an order of calculation to evaluate operators in formulas. The order of evaluation of operators dictates that a minus sign (-) used as a negation operator (such as -1) is evaluated before all other operators. Because of this order, the formula

=-1^2

represents the value -1 squared, and returns the value 1, a positive value.

To preserve the order of operations in a formula, you can specify that the negative symbol in a formula apply to the entire formula by inserting parentheses around the numbers that you want to be evaluated first.

For example, if the earlier fomula

=-2^2

is changed to

=-(2^2)

the formula returns a negative value, -4.

That has been the standard method for evaluating formulas since the first version of Microsoft Excel.

NOTE: This order of operations is different from the order of operations in Lotus 1-2-3.

For additional information about the order of evaluation of operators, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

For more information about operator precedence, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in Excel Help, type the following text

operators, formulas

and then click Show Topics. Select the "The order in which Microsoft Excel performs operations in formulas" topic, and click Go To. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

Microsoft Excel 97

For more information about operator precedence in Microsoft Excel, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel 97 Help, type the following text

operators, evaluation order in formulas

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "The order in which Microsoft Excel performs operations in formulas" topic.

Microsoft Excel 7.0

In Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

operators, precedence

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Operator Precedence" topic.

Microsoft Excel 5.0

For more information about "Mathematical Operator Evaluation in Lotus 1.2.3 and Microsoft Excel," click the Search button in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following, and then click Display:

operator

Article ID: 132686 - Last Review: January 12, 2015 - Revision: 2.0