The Excel DELTA Function

Related Function:
GESTEP Function

Function Description

The Excel Delta function tests two numbers for equality and returns the Kronecker Delta. i.e. the function returns 1 if the two supplied numbers are equal and 0 otherwise.

The syntax of the function is:

DELTA( number1, [number2] )

where number1 and [number2] are the two numbers to be compared. The [number2] argument is optional, and if omitted, defaults to the value 0.


Delta Function Examples

The spreadsheets below show five examples of the Excel Delta function.

 Formulas:
  A B
1 =DELTA( 5, 4 )  
2 =DELTA( 1.00001, 1 )  
3 =DELTA( 1.23, 1.23 )  
4 =DELTA( 1 ) - compares 1 with 0
5 =DELTA( 0 ) - compares 0 with 0
 Results:
  A
1 0
2 0
3 1
4 0
5 1

Note that in cells A4 and A5 of the above example spreadsheet, the second argument, [number2], is omitted from the functions. These two functions therefore compare the supplied number1 value with zero.


Further examples of the Excel Delta function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.


Excel Delta Function Error

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

Common Error
#VALUE! - Occurs if one or both of the supplied number arguments are non-numeric.