SQRTPI
Quirk foundCategory: Math and trigonometry · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the SQRTPI 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 SQRTPI’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 SQRTPI working in LibreOffice?
SQRTPI 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
-
=SQRTPI(-1) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#VALUE!, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
The page's single Remark publishes: "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value."; 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(SQRTPI(1),6) | Microsoft's first documented example, at the six decimals it publishes | 1.772454 | 1.772454ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(1) = 1.772454 ("Square root of pi"). DERIVATION: sqrt(1*pi) = 1.772453850905516027298 at 50 digits, which is 1.772454 at the published precision. Microsoft's page was read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/functions/sqrtpi-function. FETCH NOTE FOR THIS BATCH: batch F recorded every /en-us/office/<name>-function-<guid> URL returning Microsoft's 'Sorry, the page you're looking for can't be found' body; today BOTH paths serve the article again -- the GUID form redirects to /en-us/excel/functions/<slug>-function -- and every page cited in this batch came back complete (217-223 KB) in one or two attempts, with no 87 KB stub responses. Nothing here is sourced from a search snippet or a mirror. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),6) | Microsoft's second documented example | 2.506628 | 2.506628ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(2) = 2.506628 ("Square root of 2 * pi"). Derived independently as sqrt(2*pi) = 2.506628274631000502416, i.e. 2.506628 at the published precision. This is also the normal distribution's normalising constant, so the digits are checkable against any statistics reference. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),10) | The same example carried to ten decimals | 2.5066282746 | 2.5066282746ProvenanceAsserted at ten places from the derivation: 2.5066282746. Six published decimals cannot see an engine that multiplies before or after taking the root in a way that loses a bit. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(0) | Zero, which is inside the documented range | 0 | 0ProvenanceThe only Remark on the page is "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value", so zero is inside the documented range and sqrt(0*pi) = 0 exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(3)^2/PI(),12) | A structural round trip: squaring the result and dividing by pi must give back the argument | 3 | 3ProvenanceSQRTPI(n)^2 / PI() = n exactly in real arithmetic, for any n. A structural assertion with no derived constant, and it is sharp about the ARGUMENT handling: an engine that computed sqrt(pi)*n, or sqrt(n)+pi, or sqrt(n/pi) would pass none of it. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(-1) | A negative argument, which the page excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceThe page's single Remark publishes: "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! 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(SQRTPI(1),6) | Microsoft's first documented example, at the six decimals it publishes | 1.772454 | 1.772454ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(1) = 1.772454 ("Square root of pi"). DERIVATION: sqrt(1*pi) = 1.772453850905516027298 at 50 digits, which is 1.772454 at the published precision. Microsoft's page was read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/functions/sqrtpi-function. FETCH NOTE FOR THIS BATCH: batch F recorded every /en-us/office/<name>-function-<guid> URL returning Microsoft's 'Sorry, the page you're looking for can't be found' body; today BOTH paths serve the article again -- the GUID form redirects to /en-us/excel/functions/<slug>-function -- and every page cited in this batch came back complete (217-223 KB) in one or two attempts, with no 87 KB stub responses. Nothing here is sourced from a search snippet or a mirror. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),6) | Microsoft's second documented example | 2.506628 | 2.506628ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(2) = 2.506628 ("Square root of 2 * pi"). Derived independently as sqrt(2*pi) = 2.506628274631000502416, i.e. 2.506628 at the published precision. This is also the normal distribution's normalising constant, so the digits are checkable against any statistics reference. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),10) | The same example carried to ten decimals | 2.506628275 | 2.5066282746ProvenanceAsserted at ten places from the derivation: 2.5066282746. Six published decimals cannot see an engine that multiplies before or after taking the root in a way that loses a bit. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(0) | Zero, which is inside the documented range | 0 | 0ProvenanceThe only Remark on the page is "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value", so zero is inside the documented range and sqrt(0*pi) = 0 exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(3)^2/PI(),12) | A structural round trip: squaring the result and dividing by pi must give back the argument | 3 | 3ProvenanceSQRTPI(n)^2 / PI() = n exactly in real arithmetic, for any n. A structural assertion with no derived constant, and it is sharp about the ARGUMENT handling: an engine that computed sqrt(pi)*n, or sqrt(n)+pi, or sqrt(n/pi) would pass none of it. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(-1) | A negative argument, which the page excludes | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceThe page's single Remark publishes: "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value." |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(1),6) | Microsoft's first documented example, at the six decimals it publishes | 1.772454 | 1.772454ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(1) = 1.772454 ("Square root of pi"). DERIVATION: sqrt(1*pi) = 1.772453850905516027298 at 50 digits, which is 1.772454 at the published precision. Microsoft's page was read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/functions/sqrtpi-function. FETCH NOTE FOR THIS BATCH: batch F recorded every /en-us/office/<name>-function-<guid> URL returning Microsoft's 'Sorry, the page you're looking for can't be found' body; today BOTH paths serve the article again -- the GUID form redirects to /en-us/excel/functions/<slug>-function -- and every page cited in this batch came back complete (217-223 KB) in one or two attempts, with no 87 KB stub responses. Nothing here is sourced from a search snippet or a mirror. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),6) | Microsoft's second documented example | 2.506628 | 2.506628ProvenanceMicrosoft publishes =SQRTPI(2) = 2.506628 ("Square root of 2 * pi"). Derived independently as sqrt(2*pi) = 2.506628274631000502416, i.e. 2.506628 at the published precision. This is also the normal distribution's normalising constant, so the digits are checkable against any statistics reference. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(2),10) | The same example carried to ten decimals | 2.5066282746 | 2.5066282746ProvenanceAsserted at ten places from the derivation: 2.5066282746. Six published decimals cannot see an engine that multiplies before or after taking the root in a way that loses a bit. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(0) | Zero, which is inside the documented range | 0 | 0ProvenanceThe only Remark on the page is "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value", so zero is inside the documented range and sqrt(0*pi) = 0 exactly. |
Matched |
| =ROUND(SQRTPI(3)^2/PI(),12) | A structural round trip: squaring the result and dividing by pi must give back the argument | 3 | 3ProvenanceSQRTPI(n)^2 / PI() = n exactly in real arithmetic, for any n. A structural assertion with no derived constant, and it is sharp about the ARGUMENT handling: an engine that computed sqrt(pi)*n, or sqrt(n)+pi, or sqrt(n/pi) would pass none of it. |
Matched |
| =SQRTPI(-1) | A negative argument, which the page excludes | #VALUE! | #NUM!ProvenanceThe page's single Remark publishes: "If number < 0, SQRTPI returns the #NUM! error value." |
Mismatch |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation