Overview of the Excel FALSE Function
The Excel FALSE function is a logical function used return the Boolean value FALSE. This function does not accept any arguments, unlike most Excel functions. For more details, see Microsoft’s official FALSE function documentation.
Syntax
=FALSE()
Arguments
N/A
Version
Excel 2003 and onward
Purpose
The Excel FALSE function returns the Boolean value FALSE. This function is rarely used in practice, as the need to generate the value “FALSE” is uncommon. The same can be said for the TRUE function in Excel. However, some external applications to Excel require outputs such as TRUE and FALSE when parsing a spreadsheet. As such, these functions do have their niche uses.
Using the =FALSE() function will simply result in FALSE:
=FALSE() // returns FALSE
Similarly, all of the following examples will result in the output FALSE if A1 is less then 50:
All logical functions and expressions default to either a TRUE or FALSE result, if no output criteria are provided. This is why we see all formulas above evaluate to the same result; FALSE.
Additionally, since FALSE is a Boolean value, it is also equal to the value 0. The same can be said for TRUE, which is equal to the value 1.
Examples of the Excel FALSE Function
Using an example similar to one above, let’s input the following formula into cell D4:
Since the value in cell B4 is less than 50, the formula evaluates to FALSE. Now, to illustrate that FALSE is also equal to 0 (since it is a Boolean value), let’s look at the following example, where we multiply the FALSE function by 0:
Now we can see the result is 0 as opposed to FALSE. Although this isn’t practical, it does highlight how Excel interprets and processes the FALSE result in it’s calculation engine.
Notes
- FALSE and FALSE() are identical
- FALSE has an equivalent value of 0
- Official Documentation: For more examples and in-depth details, refer to Microsoft’s official XOR function documentation
Author
Kyle Stott
Certified Microsoft Excel Expert
Kyle has worked professionally with Microsoft Excel for over a decade and has been consulting on and teaching best practices in Microsoft Excel to over 400 companies across 30+ countries.
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