ERF
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Engineering · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the ERF 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 ERF’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 0.745 | 0.70792892 | 0.70792892ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(0.745)' with the result 0.70792892 and the description "Error function integrated between 0 and 0.74500". Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(1),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 1 | 0.84270079 | 0.84270079ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(1)' with the result 0.84270079. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745,1),8) | The two-argument form, which integrates between the two limits | 0.13477187 | 0.13477187ProvenanceNot a published example -- the page's two examples both use the one-argument form -- but a direct consequence of the documented syntax ERF(lower_limit,[upper_limit]), "Returns the error function integrated between lower_limit and upper_limit", combined with the documented meaning of the one-argument form ("If omitted, ERF integrates between zero and lower_limit"). The two-limit integral is therefore erf(1) - erf(0.745) = 0.84270079294971486934 - 0.70792892009573768414 = 0.1347718728539771852 (mpmath, 50 dps), i.e. 0.13477187 at 8 dp. This case exists because the optional second argument is exactly the part of ERF a reimplementation is most likely to drop -- and it is also what distinguishes ERF from ERF.PRECISE, which takes one argument only. |
Matched |
| =ERF("abc") | A non-numeric argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lower_limit is nonnumeric, ERF 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 0.745 | 0.70792892 | 0.70792892ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(0.745)' with the result 0.70792892 and the description "Error function integrated between 0 and 0.74500". Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(1),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 1 | 0.84270079 | 0.84270079ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(1)' with the result 0.84270079. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745,1),8) | The two-argument form, which integrates between the two limits | 0.13477187 | 0.13477187ProvenanceNot a published example -- the page's two examples both use the one-argument form -- but a direct consequence of the documented syntax ERF(lower_limit,[upper_limit]), "Returns the error function integrated between lower_limit and upper_limit", combined with the documented meaning of the one-argument form ("If omitted, ERF integrates between zero and lower_limit"). The two-limit integral is therefore erf(1) - erf(0.745) = 0.84270079294971486934 - 0.70792892009573768414 = 0.1347718728539771852 (mpmath, 50 dps), i.e. 0.13477187 at 8 dp. This case exists because the optional second argument is exactly the part of ERF a reimplementation is most likely to drop -- and it is also what distinguishes ERF from ERF.PRECISE, which takes one argument only. |
Matched |
| =ERF("abc") | A non-numeric argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lower_limit is nonnumeric, ERF returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 0.745 | 0.70792892 | 0.70792892ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(0.745)' with the result 0.70792892 and the description "Error function integrated between 0 and 0.74500". Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(1),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the error function integrated between 0 and 1 | 0.84270079 | 0.84270079ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=ERF(1)' with the result 0.84270079. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits (not the library that authored the corpus's other values): erf(0.745) = 0.70792892009573768414 and erf(1) = 0.84270079294971486934, which round to the published 0.70792892 and 0.84270079 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(ERF(0.745,1),8) | The two-argument form, which integrates between the two limits | 0.13477187 | 0.13477187ProvenanceNot a published example -- the page's two examples both use the one-argument form -- but a direct consequence of the documented syntax ERF(lower_limit,[upper_limit]), "Returns the error function integrated between lower_limit and upper_limit", combined with the documented meaning of the one-argument form ("If omitted, ERF integrates between zero and lower_limit"). The two-limit integral is therefore erf(1) - erf(0.745) = 0.84270079294971486934 - 0.70792892009573768414 = 0.1347718728539771852 (mpmath, 50 dps), i.e. 0.13477187 at 8 dp. This case exists because the optional second argument is exactly the part of ERF a reimplementation is most likely to drop -- and it is also what distinguishes ERF from ERF.PRECISE, which takes one argument only. |
Matched |
| =ERF("abc") | A non-numeric argument | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lower_limit is nonnumeric, ERF returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation