EXPON.DIST
Quirk foundCategory: Statistical · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the EXPON.DIST 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 EXPON.DIST’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 EXPON.DIST working in LibreOffice?
EXPON.DIST 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
-
=EXPON.DIST(-1,10,TRUE) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
0, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Excel documents: "If x < 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." EXECUTED RESULT -- SILENT NON-ERROR. All four LibreOffice builds return the number 0 instead of the documented #NUM! for a negative x. 0 is the mathematically natural continuation of the CDF below the support, so nothing looks wrong downstream: a spreadsheet full of negative inputs silently produces zeros where Excel would produce a visible column of errors. This is a missing input guard, not a computation defect.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#NUM!', got 0
-
=EXPON.DIST(0.2,0,TRUE) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#VALUE!, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Excel documents: "If lambda <= 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." Zero is the boundary the rule excludes. EXECUTED RESULT: all four LibreOffice builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) return #VALUE! here instead of the documented #NUM! -- the same systemic #VALUE!-substitution pattern already recorded across this corpus, an error-code difference rather than a computation one.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#NUM!', got '#VALUE!'
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(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,TRUE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the cumulative exponential distribution at x = 0.2 with lambda = 10 | 0.86466472 | 0.86466472ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(A2,A3,TRUE)' over the data 0.2 and 10 with the result 0.86466472. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the probability density at the same point | 1.35335283 | 1.35335283ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE)' with the result 1.35335283. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. Note the density exceeds 1, which is correct for a continuous distribution and is a useful check that the engine is not clamping a density to a probability. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST(-1,10,TRUE) | A negative x, which the documentation excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x < 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." EXECUTED RESULT -- SILENT NON-ERROR. All four LibreOffice builds return the number 0 instead of the documented #NUM! for a negative x. 0 is the mathematically natural continuation of the CDF below the support, so nothing looks wrong downstream: a spreadsheet full of negative inputs silently produces zeros where Excel would produce a visible column of errors. This is a missing input guard, not a computation defect. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST(0.2,0,TRUE) | A lambda of zero, which the documentation excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lambda <= 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." Zero is the boundary the rule excludes. EXECUTED RESULT: all four LibreOffice builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) return #VALUE! here instead of the documented #NUM! -- the same systemic #VALUE!-substitution pattern already recorded across this corpus, an error-code difference rather than a computation one. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST("abc",10,TRUE) | A non-numeric x | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x or lambda is nonnumeric, EXPON.DIST 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(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,TRUE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the cumulative exponential distribution at x = 0.2 with lambda = 10 | 0.86466472 | 0.86466472ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(A2,A3,TRUE)' over the data 0.2 and 10 with the result 0.86466472. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the probability density at the same point | 1.35335283 | 1.35335283ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE)' with the result 1.35335283. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. Note the density exceeds 1, which is correct for a continuous distribution and is a useful check that the engine is not clamping a density to a probability. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST(-1,10,TRUE) | A negative x, which the documentation excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x < 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." EXECUTED RESULT -- SILENT NON-ERROR. All four LibreOffice builds return the number 0 instead of the documented #NUM! for a negative x. 0 is the mathematically natural continuation of the CDF below the support, so nothing looks wrong downstream: a spreadsheet full of negative inputs silently produces zeros where Excel would produce a visible column of errors. This is a missing input guard, not a computation defect. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST(0.2,0,TRUE) | A lambda of zero, which the documentation excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lambda <= 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." Zero is the boundary the rule excludes. EXECUTED RESULT: all four LibreOffice builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) return #VALUE! here instead of the documented #NUM! -- the same systemic #VALUE!-substitution pattern already recorded across this corpus, an error-code difference rather than a computation one. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST("abc",10,TRUE) | A non-numeric x | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x or lambda is nonnumeric, EXPON.DIST returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ROUND(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,TRUE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the cumulative exponential distribution at x = 0.2 with lambda = 10 | 0.86466472 | 0.86466472ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(A2,A3,TRUE)' over the data 0.2 and 10 with the result 0.86466472. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE),8) | Microsoft's documented worked example: the probability density at the same point | 1.35335283 | 1.35335283ProvenanceMicrosoft's page publishes '=EXPON.DIST(0.2,10,FALSE)' with the result 1.35335283. Re-derived independently with mpmath at 50 decimal digits from the equations the page states: the cumulative form is 1 - e^(-lambda*x) = 1 - e^(-2) = 0.86466471676338730811 and the density is lambda*e^(-lambda*x) = 10*e^(-2) = 1.3533528323661269189, which round to the published 0.86466472 and 1.35335283 at 8 dp exactly. Note the density exceeds 1, which is correct for a continuous distribution and is a useful check that the engine is not clamping a density to a probability. |
Matched |
| =EXPON.DIST(-1,10,TRUE) | A negative x, which the documentation excludes | 0 | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x < 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." EXECUTED RESULT -- SILENT NON-ERROR. All four LibreOffice builds return the number 0 instead of the documented #NUM! for a negative x. 0 is the mathematically natural continuation of the CDF below the support, so nothing looks wrong downstream: a spreadsheet full of negative inputs silently produces zeros where Excel would produce a visible column of errors. This is a missing input guard, not a computation defect. |
Mismatch |
| =EXPON.DIST(0.2,0,TRUE) | A lambda of zero, which the documentation excludes | #VALUE! | #NUM!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If lambda <= 0, EXPON.DIST returns the #NUM! error value." Zero is the boundary the rule excludes. EXECUTED RESULT: all four LibreOffice builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) return #VALUE! here instead of the documented #NUM! -- the same systemic #VALUE!-substitution pattern already recorded across this corpus, an error-code difference rather than a computation one. |
Mismatch |
| =EXPON.DIST("abc",10,TRUE) | A non-numeric x | #VALUE! | #VALUE!ProvenanceExcel documents: "If x or lambda is nonnumeric, EXPON.DIST returns the #VALUE! error value." |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation