Forum Discussion
Ms-Excel has wrong functions in Exponential (I think that's true)
Dear Ms-Excel team,
Fist of all I want to say thank MS who created wonderful app (Ms-Excel).
However, I believe there are some error in Exponential functions.
Ex. Let calculate some functions bellow:
Functions S1 = 2^3^4^1
Functions S2 = 2^4^1^3
Functions S3 = 2^1^3^4
Functions S4 = 2^3^4^0
Functions S5 = 2^3^0^4
Functions S6 = 2^2^2^2
Normally, we will use Top-Down to calculate these functions: A^b^c^d = A^(b^c^d) = A^(b^(c^d))
However I found that Ms-Excel is calculating A^b^c^d = A^(b*c*d)
Let see my attachment, you can try by others apps (Google, Casio, web app ...)
There are some very simple functions, but almost results from Excel are in-correct. Or I did some wrong? If I wrong, please let me know, I am very thankful about that.
Finally, I wish my report is helpful for MS-Team, helpful for everyone (Sorry, my bad English).
7 Replies
I believe Excel conforms to the general mathematics rule of precedence:
"where operators have equal precedence, they are evaluated left to right".
You don't get much more 'equal' than '^' and '^'!
- I agree with you, use "=" much more than "^".
Excel calculates formulae from left to right Calculation operators and precedence in Excel - Microsoft Support
Thus = 2^3^4^1 will be calculated as
2^3 = 8
8^4 = 4096
4096^1 = 4096
- Thank Sergei Baklan, I understand your explanation with fully reference from MS-links.
MS-Excel is correct with MS-Excel's order of calculation (from left to right).
But, do you agree with me about the Basic Calculation in Math what we learned at school? About the order of calculation:
1. Exponential
2. Sqrt
3. Bracket
4. */
5. +-
6. Left to Right
And, I wondering How can I type correctly functions in Excel if I Excel calculate S1 to S6 in my example? Results from S1 to S6 will be store in cells from G3 to G8 in my attached picture.
