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The Excel SIGN Function

Related Function:
ABS Function

Function Description

The Excel SIGN function returns the arithmetic sign (+1, -1 or 0) of a supplied number. I.e. if the number is positive, the Sign function returns +1, if the number is negative, the function returns -1 and if the number is 0 (zero), the function returns 0.

The syntax of the Sign function is:

SIGN( number )

where the number argument is the numeric value that you want the arithmetic sign of.


Sign Function Examples

The following spreadshee shows simple examples of the Excel Sign function.

 Formulas:
  A
1 =SIGN( 9.5 )
2 =SIGN( -9.5 )
3 =SIGN( 0 )
4 =SIGN( 0.00000001 )
5 =SIGN( 6 - 7 )
 Results:
  A
1 1
2 -1
3 0
4 1
5 -1

Further details of the Excel Sign function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.


Sign Function Error

If you get an error from the Excel Sign function, this is likely to be the #VALUE! error:

Common Error
#VALUE! - Occurs if the supplied number argument is non-numeric.
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