DELTA
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Engineering · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the DELTA 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) | Supported, behaves as documented |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when DELTA’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-31 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-31 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-31 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-31 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DELTA(5,4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 and 4 are not equal | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 4)' with the description "Checks whether 5 equals 4" and the result 0, which follows from the documented rule "Returns 1 if number1 = number2; returns 0 otherwise". |
Matched |
| =DELTA(5,5) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 equals 5 | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 5)' with the result 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0.5,0) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 0.5 does not equal 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(0.5, 0)' with the result 0. The comparison is exact, not rounded -- this case exists to catch an engine that truncates its arguments to integers first, which would return 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0) | The optional second argument omitted, so it defaults to zero | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft documents: "Number2 Optional. The second number. If omitted, number2 is assumed to be zero." DELTA(0) is therefore DELTA(0,0), and the Kronecker delta of two equal values is 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA("abc",1) | A non-numeric first argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If number1 is nonnumeric, DELTA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DELTA(5,4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 and 4 are not equal | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 4)' with the description "Checks whether 5 equals 4" and the result 0, which follows from the documented rule "Returns 1 if number1 = number2; returns 0 otherwise". |
Matched |
| =DELTA(5,5) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 equals 5 | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 5)' with the result 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0.5,0) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 0.5 does not equal 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(0.5, 0)' with the result 0. The comparison is exact, not rounded -- this case exists to catch an engine that truncates its arguments to integers first, which would return 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0) | The optional second argument omitted, so it defaults to zero | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft documents: "Number2 Optional. The second number. If omitted, number2 is assumed to be zero." DELTA(0) is therefore DELTA(0,0), and the Kronecker delta of two equal values is 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA("abc",1) | A non-numeric first argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If number1 is nonnumeric, DELTA returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DELTA(5,4) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 and 4 are not equal | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 4)' with the description "Checks whether 5 equals 4" and the result 0, which follows from the documented rule "Returns 1 if number1 = number2; returns 0 otherwise". |
Matched |
| =DELTA(5,5) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 5 equals 5 | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(5, 5)' with the result 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0.5,0) | Microsoft's documented worked example: 0.5 does not equal 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=DELTA(0.5, 0)' with the result 0. The comparison is exact, not rounded -- this case exists to catch an engine that truncates its arguments to integers first, which would return 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA(0) | The optional second argument omitted, so it defaults to zero | 1 | 1ProvenanceMicrosoft documents: "Number2 Optional. The second number. If omitted, number2 is assumed to be zero." DELTA(0) is therefore DELTA(0,0), and the Kronecker delta of two equal values is 1. |
Matched |
| =DELTA("abc",1) | A non-numeric first argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If number1 is nonnumeric, DELTA returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation