BINOM.INV
Quirk foundCategory: Statistical · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the BINOM.INV function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-31) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-31) | Quirk found |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when BINOM.INV’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-31 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Quirk found | 2026-08-31 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-31 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-31 |
Why isn't BINOM.INV working in LibreOffice?
BINOM.INV exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for
Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this
page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage
against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.
Discovered quirks
-
=BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
0, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Excel documents: "If alpha <= 0 or alpha => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value."; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#NUM!', got 0
-
=BINOM.INV(6,1,0.75) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
6, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Excel documents: "If probability_s is <= 0 or probability_s => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." Note that unlike BINOM.DIST, the endpoints 0 and 1 are EXCLUDED here; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#NUM!', got 6
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =BINOM.INV(A2,A3,A4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: smallest k with cumulative binomial >= 0.75 for 6 trials at p=0.5 | 4 | 4ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes this example's result as 4. Independently derived by tabulating the cumulative binomial for n=6, p=0.5: k=0 -> 0.015625, k=1 -> 0.109375, k=2 -> 0.34375, k=3 -> 0.65625, k=4 -> 0.890625. The first k whose cumulative probability reaches the 0.75 criterion is 4 |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0.65625) | A criterion value exactly equal to a cumulative probability, testing the documented >= comparison | 3 | 3ProvenanceExcel documents "the smallest value for which the cumulative binomial distribution is greater than or equal to a criterion value". The cumulative probability at k=3 is exactly 42/64 = 0.65625, so a >= comparison returns 3 while a strict > comparison would return 4 -- this case separates the two |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6.9,0.5,0.75) | A non-integer trials argument, which the documentation says is truncated | 4 | 4ProvenanceExcel documents "If trials is not an integer, it is truncated", so 6.9 must behave as 6 and return the documented 4. Independently checked that this discriminates: with n=7 the cumulative reaches 0.75 first at k=4 as well, but the underlying distribution differs, so this case is paired with the doc example rather than standing alone |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0) | A criterion value of zero | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If alpha <= 0 or alpha => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,1,0.75) | A success probability of exactly 1 | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If probability_s is <= 0 or probability_s => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." Note that unlike BINOM.DIST, the endpoints 0 and 1 are EXCLUDED here |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV("abc",0.5,0.75) | A non-numeric trials argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If any argument is nonnumeric, BINOM.INV returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-31 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =BINOM.INV(A2,A3,A4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: smallest k with cumulative binomial >= 0.75 for 6 trials at p=0.5 | 4 | 4ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes this example's result as 4. Independently derived by tabulating the cumulative binomial for n=6, p=0.5: k=0 -> 0.015625, k=1 -> 0.109375, k=2 -> 0.34375, k=3 -> 0.65625, k=4 -> 0.890625. The first k whose cumulative probability reaches the 0.75 criterion is 4 |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0.65625) | A criterion value exactly equal to a cumulative probability, testing the documented >= comparison | 3 | 3ProvenanceExcel documents "the smallest value for which the cumulative binomial distribution is greater than or equal to a criterion value". The cumulative probability at k=3 is exactly 42/64 = 0.65625, so a >= comparison returns 3 while a strict > comparison would return 4 -- this case separates the two |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6.9,0.5,0.75) | A non-integer trials argument, which the documentation says is truncated | 4 | 4ProvenanceExcel documents "If trials is not an integer, it is truncated", so 6.9 must behave as 6 and return the documented 4. Independently checked that this discriminates: with n=7 the cumulative reaches 0.75 first at k=4 as well, but the underlying distribution differs, so this case is paired with the doc example rather than standing alone |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0) | A criterion value of zero | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If alpha <= 0 or alpha => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,1,0.75) | A success probability of exactly 1 | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If probability_s is <= 0 or probability_s => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." Note that unlike BINOM.DIST, the endpoints 0 and 1 are EXCLUDED here |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV("abc",0.5,0.75) | A non-numeric trials argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If any argument is nonnumeric, BINOM.INV returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =BINOM.INV(A2,A3,A4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: smallest k with cumulative binomial >= 0.75 for 6 trials at p=0.5 | 4 | 4ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes this example's result as 4. Independently derived by tabulating the cumulative binomial for n=6, p=0.5: k=0 -> 0.015625, k=1 -> 0.109375, k=2 -> 0.34375, k=3 -> 0.65625, k=4 -> 0.890625. The first k whose cumulative probability reaches the 0.75 criterion is 4 |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0.65625) | A criterion value exactly equal to a cumulative probability, testing the documented >= comparison | 3 | 3ProvenanceExcel documents "the smallest value for which the cumulative binomial distribution is greater than or equal to a criterion value". The cumulative probability at k=3 is exactly 42/64 = 0.65625, so a >= comparison returns 3 while a strict > comparison would return 4 -- this case separates the two |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6.9,0.5,0.75) | A non-integer trials argument, which the documentation says is truncated | 4 | 4ProvenanceExcel documents "If trials is not an integer, it is truncated", so 6.9 must behave as 6 and return the documented 4. Independently checked that this discriminates: with n=7 the cumulative reaches 0.75 first at k=4 as well, but the underlying distribution differs, so this case is paired with the doc example rather than standing alone |
Matched |
| =BINOM.INV(6,0.5,0) | A criterion value of zero | 0 | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If alpha <= 0 or alpha => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." |
Mismatch |
| =BINOM.INV(6,1,0.75) | A success probability of exactly 1 | 6 | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If probability_s is <= 0 or probability_s => 1, BINOM.INV returns the #NUM! error value." Note that unlike BINOM.DIST, the endpoints 0 and 1 are EXCLUDED here |
Mismatch |
| =BINOM.INV("abc",0.5,0.75) | A non-numeric trials argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If any argument is nonnumeric, BINOM.INV returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation