FALSE Function in Excel (Table of Contents)
Introduction to FALSE Function in Excel
FALSE function in Microsoft Excel is widely used. It is categorized under logical function/logical expression. The reason, because it provides logical output. The one which is the same as YES, NO or 1, 0. It is a logical value for all such scenarios where the absence of anything or non-possibility of any event occurs. FALSE is a compatibility function in Excel, therefore it does not need to be called explicitly. It represents the Boolean value 0 (As in Boolean logic, TRUE =1 and FALSE = 0). This function can be more widely used within conditional statements like IF, IFERROR, etc.
Syntax for FALSE function is as below:
- This function does not have an argument and just provides a logical FALSE value in a given excel sheet. It is added under Excel primarily for maintaining compatibility with other worksheets as well as spreadsheet programs. This is similar to writing FALSE in any cell of your excel worksheet. This means you do not even need to call this function. It can just be typed.
You can also find this function under Logical category inside Functional Library present in the Formulas tab in Excel ribbon.
Examples of FALSE Function
Let’s take some examples to get going with Excel FALSE function.
Example #1 – Using Logical Function’s Library
Step 1: Inside given excel sheet, click on “Formulas” tab, you will see a list of different Functional Libraries. Out of those, navigate to Logical and click on the drop-down arrow. A list of logical functions will appear. From there, select “FALSE” or click on “FALSE”.
Step 2: As soon as you select and click on FALSE function, in your active cell formula for FALSE will appear automatically and with that, there would be a “Functional Arguments” window popping up which consists of all the info associated with FALSE function. Click OK in that pop-up window. It will return the logical FALSE as output in your working cell.
Step 3: You can directly type FALSE in your active sheet or =FALSE() to get the logical FALSE value. See the screenshot below.
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All these three methods are equivalent to each other for getting logical FALSE value.
Example #2 – Using Logical Conditions in FALSE Function
We can use the FALSE function as an output to the logical conditions. Ex. Whether or not the given number is less than or greater than a particular number. We will see it step by step in the example below:
Step 1: In cell A2 of your working sheet, type any number. I will choose a number as 32 and type it under cell A2.
Step 2: In cell B2, put a logical condition which checks whether 32 is less than 20 or not. You can type the following code under D2. =A2 < 20
Step 3: Press Enter key to see the output of this formula. As we can clearly see the value present in cell A2 (i.e. 32) is not less than 20, therefore the system will return logical FALSE as an output.
Similarly, you can get the output as FALSE when you check whether a value in cell A2 is greater than 50. I will leave it up to you to give a try for this.
Example #3 – Using Mathematical Operations in FALSE Function
A FALSE function is a logical function which is equivalent to its Boolean value numeric zero (0). Therefore, all mathematical operations are possible with FALSE function the same way we do those with numeric zero (0).
Step 1: In cell A2 of your active excel sheet, type the formula as below and press the Enter Key.
=FALSE() + 12
You get answer equivalent to (0 + 12).
Step 2: In cell A3 of active excel sheet, type the following formula and press the Enter key.
=FALSE() – 12
You’ll get output equivalent to (0 – 12).
Step 3: In cell A4 of active excel worksheet, put the following formula and press the Enter key.
=FALSE() * 12
Since FALSE is equivalent to numeric zero. Any number multiplied to it will be returning zero.
Step 4: In cell A5 of your active excel sheet, put the formula mentioned below and press the Enter key.
=FALSE() / 12
Again the same logic. As FALSE is equivalent to numeric zero, the division of FALSE and any number would return value as zero.
Example #4 – Using FALSE Function Under Logical Statements or Conditions
We are frequently using FALSE function under logical statements or conditions such as IF under Excel.
Step 1: In cell A2 of the active excel sheet, put the number which we want to check under logical IF condition.
Step 2: Now, use the logical IF condition to check whether this number is less than 1 or not. If it is less than 1, the output should be TRUE else the output should be FALSE. Use the following conditional formula under cell C2 of the active worksheet. =IF(A2 < 1, TRUE, FALSE)
Press Enter key to see the output.
Since the condition A2 < 1 does not meet in this example, the system will generate an output as FALSE which is equivalent to FALSE function in excel. Now, suppose we wanted the result as FALSE when A2 > 1 then we can do it directly in IF condition without using else part with the help of FALSE function.
In cell B3 of the active excel sheet, put the following formula. =IF(A2 > 1, FALSE())
Press the Enter key.
Here we have checked if the value under cell A2 is greater than 1 then it will give the output as FALSE directly. This example emphasizes that we can directly use FALSE function within conditional outputs.
This is from this article. Let’s wrap the things up with some points to be remembered.
Things to Remember About FALSE Function in Excel
- FALSE is equivalent to numeric zero.
- FALSE function does not require any argument to be called under Excel.
- This function does not even need parentheses to be added under it. This means FALSE and FALSE() are identical.
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