Bug in Excel 2016

Question

I think I found in bug in Excel 2016.

When entering =-(-2)^2 in a cell the result is 4. However it should be -4 since (-2)^2 = 4 and -(-2)^2 = -4.

It is interesting that entering =-(-2) returns 2 i.e. both minus signs have been recognized now.

Answer 1

I'm not going to argue. The result came as a (rude) surprise to me too.

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MS will just say it is a F.A.D. :

While you call it a Failure (or Bug)

MS says it is working As Designed

You can submit a "feedback" to MS reporting this "bug", but they won't do anything

*************** Feedback Hub ***************![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/282f1d67-c117-402b-a5fc-b46b6388e1bf?platform=QnA"https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-msoffice_custom-msoversion_other/microsoft-feedback-process/6f850368-8c86-481d-a207-d95b265c4be4" rel="ugc nofollow">https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-msoffice_custom-msoversion_other/microsoft-feedback-process/6f850368-8c86-481d-a207-d95b265c4be4

Describes the 5 ways you can submit “Feedback” to MS

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I’ve also (finally) recognized that there are 2 more ways of submitting “feedback” to MS for online help pages/documentation. Some, not all of their online documentation pages include one of 2 ways of sending “feedback” to MS to (hopefully) improve the documentation.

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Troubleshooting for Money in Excel – Feedback about Money Bugshttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshooting-for-money-in-excel-a274e11c-2642-4277-a1d1-364b8fe97ff5
Excel for Microsoft 365, for Mac, for the web
You can find answers to common issues for Money in Excel here. If you don't see your issue covered here, Send feedback to the Money in Excel team.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshooting-for-money-in-excel-a274e11c-2642-4277-a1d1-364b8fe97ff5#bkmk_sendfeedback
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Submit Feedback about MS web Pages - Documentation

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-msoffice_custom-msoversion_other/submit-feedback-about-ms-web-pages-documentation/97914e92-bbc7-411c-a24b-a529a6d5c42d

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Bonus Reading related to MS Feedback system

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/bonus-reading-related-to-ms-feedback-system/506e7654-8ced-405b-911e-c58d8f253069

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This article includes links to articles on topics like:

.  *  confirming that "Feedback" really is (or was) read by real people at MS

.  *  several tips on what to do or not do when asking for help

.  *  Alternate ways of getting help from MS

.  *  examples of bad customer service at other companies.

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Answer 2

Thank you. When working with large equations in Excel I usually check those using math software packages like Mathcad or Maple. Without this check it would have been difficult for me to figure out this behaviour of Excel. For me this is definitely a bug.

Answer 3

In the second article there are processes described to "watch" and/or "evaluate" how large formulas are processed.

Answer 4

It's not just Excel 2016. It is Excel period.

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The problem is the "order of precedence" operators are applied. To my suprise negative is applied before exponent.

(-2) has - applied, then it is squared

Excel's 'order of Precedence' is not the same as you learned in your "little schoolhouse on the prairie".

! Excel’s order of calculation and BODMAS               2020 06 19
https://office-watch.com/2020/excels-order-of-calculation-and-bodmas/
Excel has a slightly different order of calculation to the BODMAS rule taught to us at school. Those variations are important and can give a result you didn’t expect.
We compiled some of these examples and dropped them into Excel to see what happened.  Excel did well but there are anomalies marked in red and we’ll explain below.

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.    100 =-10^2  - this formula is ambiguous
.    100 =10^2
.   -100 =-(10^2)
.    100 =(-10)^2

.    47  =10*4-2*(4^2/4)/2/ 1/2 + 9 (In original statement of equation they used a single char for ½, implying value 0.5)
.    41  =10*4-2*(4^2/4)/2/ (1/2) + 9
.    41  =10*4-2*(4^2/4)/2/ 0.5 + 9

Calculation operators and precedence in Excelhttps://support.office.com/en-us/article/calculation-operators-and-precedence-in-excel-48be406d-4975-4d31-b2b8-7af9e0e2878a