SQRT

Quirk found

Category: Math and trigonometry · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the SQRT 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, 2026-08-29)	Supported, behaves as documented
LibreOffice Calc	Yes	Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29)	Quirk found

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when SQRT’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
24.8.7.2	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.8.7.3	Quirk found	2026-07-29

Why isn't SQRT working in LibreOffice?

SQRT 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

=SQRT(-16) on LibreOffice Calc returned #VALUE!, but the documented/expected result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Microsoft's SQRT docs state verbatim: 'If number is negative, SQRT returns the #NUM! error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Excel/functions/sqrt-function; 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
=SQRT(16)	Basic perfect-square root	4	4	Matched
=SQRT(0)	Square root of zero is zero	0	0	Matched
=SQRT(-16)	Negative input has no real square root -> #NUM!	#NUM!	#NUM! Provenance Microsoft's SQRT docs state verbatim: 'If number is negative, SQRT returns the #NUM! error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Excel/functions/sqrt-function	Matched
=SQRT(ABS(-16))	Microsoft's own SQRT documentation demonstrates wrapping a possibly-negative argument in ABS as the standard workaround to avoid #NUM!	4	4 Provenance Same doc page above shows an example using '=SQRT(ABS(A2))' specifically to sidestep the negative-input #NUM! case	Matched

Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 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
=SQRT(16)	Basic perfect-square root	4	4	Matched
=SQRT(0)	Square root of zero is zero	0	0	Matched
=SQRT(-16)	Negative input has no real square root -> #NUM!	#NUM!	#NUM! Provenance Microsoft's SQRT docs state verbatim: 'If number is negative, SQRT returns the #NUM! error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Excel/functions/sqrt-function	Matched
=SQRT(ABS(-16))	Microsoft's own SQRT documentation demonstrates wrapping a possibly-negative argument in ABS as the standard workaround to avoid #NUM!	4	4 Provenance Same doc page above shows an example using '=SQRT(ABS(A2))' specifically to sidestep the negative-input #NUM! case	Matched

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=SQRT(16)	Basic perfect-square root	4	4	Matched
=SQRT(0)	Square root of zero is zero	0	0	Matched
=SQRT(-16)	Negative input has no real square root -> #NUM!	#VALUE!	#NUM! Provenance Microsoft's SQRT docs state verbatim: 'If number is negative, SQRT returns the #NUM! error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Excel/functions/sqrt-function	Mismatch
=SQRT(ABS(-16))	Microsoft's own SQRT documentation demonstrates wrapping a possibly-negative argument in ABS as the standard workaround to avoid #NUM!	4	4 Provenance Same doc page above shows an example using '=SQRT(ABS(A2))' specifically to sidestep the negative-input #NUM! case	Matched

Docs & syntax

Excel (desktop): official documentation
Google Sheets: official documentation
LibreOffice Calc: official documentation

Where SQRT behaves differently

ERROR.TYPE: LibreOffice returns #N/A where Excel returns 4 and 6
LibreOffice returns #N/A where Excel documents 4 and 6; executed Google Sheets returns 4 and 6 but cannot parse the intersection operator at all. Error-classification logic breaks on migration.
Every error code LibreOffice reports as #VALUE!
Across our 2,334-case executed corpus, 272 cases in 135 functions return #VALUE! in LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 where Microsoft documents #NUM! (244), #N/A (15), #DIV/0! (10) or #REF! (3). Google Sheets returns the documented code on 239 of the 249 it has a function for. Identical in all four LibreOffice builds tested.
#NUM! vs #VALUE!: Excel vs LibreOffice
Domain errors Microsoft documents as #NUM! - LN(0), SQRT(-16), out-of-range LARGE - return #VALUE! in LibreOffice. Google Sheets returns #NUM! on all 16, executed: LibreOffice is alone.