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The Excel PRODUCT Function

Related Functions:
AVERAGE function
POWER function
SUM function

Function Description

The Excel PRODUCT function returns the product (multiplication) of a supplied set of numerical values.

The syntax of the function is:

PRODUCT( number1, [number2], ... )

where the number arguments are a set of numbers (or arrays of numbers) that you want to calculate the product of.

In current versions of Excel (Excel 2007 and later), you can enter up to 255 number arguments to the Excel Product function, but in Excel 2003, the function will only accept up to 30 arguments. However, each argument can consist of an array of values or a range of cells, each of which can contain many values.


Excel Product Function Examples

The following spreadsheet shows three simple examples of the Excel Product function:

 Formulas:
  A B
1 3 =PRODUCT( 3, 6 )
2 2 =PRODUCT( A1, A2 )
3 5 =PRODUCT( A1:A3 )
 Results:
  A B
1 3 18
2 2 6
3 5 30

The above example spreadsheet shows that each argument to the Product function can be supplied as a single value or cell reference, or as an array of values or cells.

For further examples of the Excel Product function, see the Microsoft Office website.


Product Function Error

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

Common Error
#VALUE! -

Occurs if any of the arguments that are supplied directly to the Product function can not be interpreted as numeric values.

(Note that if a supplied range of cells contains values that cannot be interpreted as numbers, these are ignored by the function - see the table below).


Which Values are Included in the Calculation?

Numbers and dates are always counted as numeric values by the Excel Product function. However, text and logical values are handled differently, depending on whether they are values stored in the cells of your spreadsheet, or they are supplied directly to the function.

The table below shows which values are included in the Excel Product Function calculation, and which values are ignored or produce errors:

Value Within a
Range of Cells		 Value Supplied
Directly to Function
Numbers Included Included
Dates Included Included
Logical Values Ignored Included
(True=1; False=0)
Text Representations of
Numbers & Dates		 Ignored Included
Other Text Ignored #VALUE! Error
Errors Error Error
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