Objective Grid checks for a variety of errors. Depending on the error type, the most recent error message is displayed either inside the affected cell(s), on the Message Line, or inside the Objective Grid Message dialog box.
Errors that occur inside functions are reported along with the name of the function in which the error occurred.
These errors occur only when you are typing in a formula. When you finish entering the formula, Objective Grid will attempt to read the formula and convert it to an internal representation. If it is unable to do so, it continues to display the erroneous formula, switches into "edit mode", places the text cursor at the beginning of the text that it had difficulty parsing, and displays the error message.
The problem must be corrected before Objective Grid can continue.
Formula evaluation error occurs when Objective Grid reads in a formula and converts it into its internal formula representation, but is not able to evaluate the formula and produce a correct numeric or string formula. In some cases, the formula has been entered incorrectly, for example, an operand or parenthesis is missing. In other cases, an error has occurred as a result of computation that cannot be handled properly by the computer's floating point hardware, or there is an error condition in a cell or range that is referenced in the context of this formula. Errors can also occur in the evaluation of Objective Grid built-in functions.
Use this handy reference table to look up the meaning of error messages.
| Error Message | Meaning |
| argument must be an integer | @FACT has been passed a non-integer argument. |
| argument not a cell or range | Function has been passed an argument that is neither a cell nor a range. |
| argument out of range | An argument to a function is not within the correct range for the function and its other arguments. |
| arguments must be numeric | The function requires numeric arguments, which may be literal numbers, formulas which return numeric values, or references to cells containing numeric values. |
| arguments must be positive | The arguments in this function must be all positive values. |
| can not parse condition string | Objective Grid has encountered a malformed conditional expression. |
| cannot find interpolation | @INTERP2D or @INTERP3D is unsuccessful in finding interpolated values. |
| cash flow series must be a range | @NPV and @MIRR require that their cash flow series must be a range, which must represent a single column or row. |
| cash flow series must be single column or row | @NPV and @MIRR require that their cash flow series must be a range, which must represent a single column or row. |
| cell operand contains error condition | A cell which is referenced from the cell in which the error occurs contains an error condition. |
| cell reference out of range | A cell reference has been made that is outside the range A1..FAN32767 |
| coefficient matrix has linearly dependent columns | The existence of a unique solution to a linear least squares (@LLS) problem, Ax=b, requires that the columns of A are linearly independent. |
| column offset out of range | The third argument to the @VLOOKUP function specifies an offset that is less than 0 or is greater than the width of the range specified in the second argument. |
| constraint check not supported with "As Needed'' | Constraint checking is not supported when the recalculation is set to "As Needed". |
| contains an error indicator | A cell in one or more of the data ranges for a graph contains an error condition. The error condition must be resolved before Objective Grid can plot the graph. |
| could not find real root | @IRR could not find a real root. This suggests that the data given to @IRR is probably wrong. |
| count less than zero | User has passed a negative argument to a function that requires a count, for example, with @LEFT, it is impossible to take the -2 leftmost characters of a string. |
| data set size must be = 3 | @LINFIT and @LINCOEF require a data set of size 3 or larger. |
| data set size must be = polynomial degree + 2 | @PLS, @POLYFIT, and @POLYCOEF require that the data set size be greater than or equal to the polynomial degree + 2. |
| date series must be single column or row | @XIRR and @XNPV require the argument D (date series) to be a single column or single row. |
| decimal places out of range | @STRING only takes a decimal place argument between 0 and 15. |
| degrees of freedom must be 0 | @F and @T require degrees of freedom greater than zero, as "degrees of freedom"' is mathematically undefined for zero or less. |
| dimension must be power of 2 | @FFT and @INVFFT require matrices whose dimensions are powers of two. The somewhat slower functions @DFT and @INVDFT, respectively, are equivalent functions which do not share this requirement. |
| divide by zero | An attempt has been made to divide by zero. Note that Objective Grid considers cells that are empty or contain text strings to have the value zero in the context of a numerical calculation. |
| does not accept arguments | Several Objective Grid functions, including @PI, @TRUE, @FALSE, @RAND, and @GRAND, do not accept any arguments. |
| domain is -1 < x < 1 | @ATANH only takes arguments between -1 and 1, exclusive. |
| domain is -1 <= x <= 1 | @ACOS and @ASIN only take arguments between -1 and 1, inclusive. |
| domain is 0 <= x <= 170 | @FACT only takes arguments between 0 and 170, inclusive. (Most platforms) |
| domain is x 0 | @LN, @LOG2, @LOG, @GAMMA, and @LNGAMMA only take arguments greater than zero. |
| domain is x = 1 | @ACOSH only takes arguments greater than or equal to 1. |
| "End Period" must be >= 1 | @CUMIPMT and @CUMPRINC require the argument E (end period) to be greater than or equal to 1. |
| "End Period'' must be >= "Start Period" | @CUMIPMT, @CUMPRINC and @VDB require the argument E (end period) to be greater than or equal to S (start period). |
| ending line with a \ | The \ is an escape sequence introducer, which should be followed by another character for interpretation, but the string ended prematurely. |
| ending line with a superscript command | When displaying text in the context of graphics, a ˆ is a superscript introducer. Like yˆ2 means "y squared". This message occurs when a ˆ occurs at the end of the string. |
| ending line with subscript command | When displaying text in the context of graphics, an '_' is a subscript introducer. Like y_2 means "y subscript 2". This message occurs when an '_' occurs at the end of the string. |
| error in regular expression | An error occurred while parsing the regular expression used in a search or extract operation, or while executing @REGEX or @MATCH. |
| expected the right hand side of a range here | The outer range reference is missing. |
| expected to find [something] here | There was a parsing error. The cursor will be placed in the edit window in edit mode. Read the documentation for the function and correct the error. |
| expecting a function | There is something wrong with the formula you have entered on the edit line. The parser was expecting to find a function name at the point indicated by the cursor position. |
| expecting an operand | There is something wrong with the formula you have entered on the edit line. The parser was expecting to find an operand at the point indicated by the cursor position. |
| expecting an operator | There is something wrong with the formula you have entered on the edit line. The parser was expecting to find an operator at the point indicated by the cursor position. |
| extraneous operands | There is something wrong with the formula you have entered on the edit line. The parser finds an extraneous operand at the point indicated by the cursor position. |
| F must be >= 0 | The third argument to @F must be greater than or equal to 0. |
| first argument must be numeric | @NPV and @CHOOSE require that their first argument be numeric. |
| floating exception | A floating-point arithmetic hardware exception occurred during the computation of the function or expression. This means that the calculations resulted in a number out of the range that the computer hardware is able to represent. |
| found something unexpected here | Objective Grid has found something it doesn't understand in an expression. |
| "Fraction" must be > = 1 | @DOLLARDE and @DOLLARFR require the argument F (fraction) to be greater than or equal to 1. |
| "Frequency" must be 1, 2 or 4 | The argument Frequency (number of coupon payment per year) in financial functions is limited to one of the following choices: 1, 2 or 4 |
| function not installed | This error occurs when Objective Grid encounters an "@" followed by a function name which it does not recognize as one of its built-in functions, or one that has been installed by a connection program. |
| function stack overflow | This error occurs when functions are nested too deeply. Objective Grid supports nesting of functions up to 50 levels deep. |
| hex number greater than 32 bits | Objective Grid cannot convert a hex string to a number if the hex string is longer than 8 characters, which translates to 32 bits in the internal binary representation. |
| IEEE Floating Exception (Infinity or NaN) | This error means that the formula caused a computation to occur which could not be calculated properly by the computer's IEEE standard floating point hardware. Most likely, this means that the computation would produce an intermediate or final result outside the range +/-1.8e308. |
| illegal cell or range reference | It happens when a copy or move operation results in a cell or range reference that is outside the range A1..FAN32767. |
| illegal operand of "operator" | This error occurs when one or both of the operands of the specified "operator" are not valid. Most likely, a range name was used as an operand in an arithmetic expression. |
| improper argument type | One or more arguments to the function are incompatible with the type of arguments required by the functions. |
| improper coefficient type | In the polynomial evaluation function, (@POLY), one or more of the polynomial coefficients are non-numeric. |
| improper dimensions | Several Objective Grid matrix functions and embedded tools have certain requirements on the dimensions of their matrix arguments. Check the reference manual, if you are uncertain about those requirements. |
| incompatible matrix dimensions | In matrix multiplication (@MMUL), the number of columns in the first matrix must equal the number of rows in the second matrix. |
| incompatible range dimensions | The Objective Grid dot product functions (@DOT) requires vectors of equal size. It will also compute the sum-of-products of any two ranges with equal dimensions. |
| index column contains empty cell | The first column in the lookup table referenced by @VLOOKUP must not contain empty cells. |
| index out of range | In @FIND, the third argument may not be larger than the length of the second argument. In @MID, the second argument may not be larger than the length of the first argument. |
| index row contains empty cell | The first row in the lookup table referenced by @HLOOKUP must not contain empty cells. |
| integer parameter out of range | An integer parameter greater than 4294967296 or less than -2147483649 has been entered. |
| interest rate should be 0 | @EFFECT and @NOMINAL require that argument R (interest rate) to be greater than 0. |
| interest schedule must be a single column or row | The argument R (array of interest rates) in @FVSCHEDULE must be a single column or row. |
| invalid cell reference | User has tried to access a cell with a row that is negative, zero, or greater than 32767, or with a column that is negative or greater than FAN, or 4095. |
| invalid date | Objective Grid could not understand the date format. Date values must be in the range 1-73,050, representing the dates January 1, 1900, to December 31, 2099, respectively. This error can also occur when the year, month, and day values passed to @DATE do not represent an actual date within this range (February 31, 1950, or January 1, 2589, for example). |
| invalid day count basis | The day count basis in financial functions should be one of the following choices: 0 (30/360), 1(actual/actual), 2 (actual/360) or 3 (actual/365) |
| invalid range reference | User has tried to make a range reference that references cells beyond the range of the spreadsheet; that is, a row which is negative, zero, or greater than 32767, or a column which is negative or greater than FAN, or 4095. |
| invalid table | The table of reference points in @INTERP2D or @INTERP3D contains non-numeric values or blank cells. |
| invalid time | Objective Grid cannot parse a time that the user has provided. Time values are fractional values from 0 to 1, representing fractions of a 24-hour period. When interpreting a number as a date/time value, Objective Gridinterprets the integer portion of the number as the date and the fractional portion as the time on that date. A negative value is invalid. Also, the @TIME function must have arguments in the range of 0-23 hours, 0-59 minutes, and 0-59 seconds. Any other values are invalid. |
| iterative calculation not supported with "As Needed" | To avoid infinite looping, iterative (self-referential) calculations are not supported when the recalculation method is "As Needed". To use iterative calculations, the user must choose manual recalculation. |
| less than 2 arguments | @POLY requires 2 or more arguments. |
| "Life" and "Period" must be integers | @DDB requires that "Life" and "Period", arguments 3 and 4, respectively, be integers. |
| "Life" must be > 0 | @SLN and @SYD require that "Life" is greater than 0. |
| lookup failed to produce a match | @HLOOKUP or @VLOOKUP failed to produce a match. This should only happen with an alphabetic lookup. |
| "Lower limit" must be >=0 | The argument L (lower limit) should be greater than or equal to 0 in @ERF and @ERFC. |
| magnitude too large | @NUMTOHEX requires an argument between 2147483646 and -2147483647, inclusive. |
| matrix is singular | It is mathematically impossible to invert a singular matrix. |
| matrix must be square | It is impossible to invert, take the eigenvalue of, or take the determinant of a non-square matrix. |
| "Match Type" must be 0 for string match | The argument T (type of match) must be 0 if argument V (value to be matched) is text in @MATCH. |
| matrix must be symmetric | @EIGEN requires a symmetric matrix. |
| modula divide by zero | Mod 0 is an undefined operation. |
| must be -15 to +15 places | @ROUND cannot round to greater than 15 places on either side of the decimal point. |
| must have "Cost" = "Salvage" >= 0 | @DDB, @SLN, @SYD, @DB, and @VDB require that the "Cost"' argument be greater than or equal to the "Salvage" argument, which must be greater than or equal to 0. |
| must have issue < first coupon < maturity | The values of argument I (issue date), FC (first coupon date) and M (maturity date) must satisfy the following condition: I < FC < M |
| must have issue < last coupon < maturity | The values of argument I (issue date), LC (last coupon date) and M (maturity date) must satisfy the following condition: I < LC < M |
| must have "Life"' = "Period"' >= 1 | @DDB, @DB, and @VDB all require that the "Life"' argument be greater than or equal to the "Period" argument, which must be greater than or equal to 1. |
| must have N 0, K 0 and N < K | The arguments N (number of objects to choose from) and K (Number of objects to be chosen) in @PERMUT must follow the following condition: N0, K0 and N<K. |
| need at least 2 cash flow values | A single data point does not make a cash flow series; it takes two to trend. Computing the internal rate of return (@IRR) is undefined for only one value. |
| operand equal to 0 | @HMEAN does not take arguments whose value is 0. |
| operand larger than 32 bits | Integers in Objective Grid cannot take more than 32 bits to express. This restricts integers to the range 2147483647 to -2147483648, or 4294967295 to zero, depending on whether the operand is only positive or can be negative. |
| no duplicate number found | The @MODE can not find the most frequently occurring number because all numbers appear only once in the argument list. |
| no match was found | @MATCH is unsuccessful in finding a match. |
| non hex digits in string | @HEXTONUM requires that its argument be a string containing only hex digits, 0-9 and A-F. |
| non-numeric operand | An expression of some sort has a non-numeric operand where a numeric operand is required, making the result of the expression undefined. |
| non-numeric value in ... | Doing arithmetic on alphabetic entities is undefined. |
| not enough arguments to function | User has entered too few arguments to the function. |
| "Number" is not in the reference list | The number to be ranked is not in the reference list in @RANK. |
| number is too [large|small] | The number is at or beyond the limit of the ability of the computer to express, and is treated as if it were slightly within the limit. |
| number of compounding periods should be >=1 | @EFFECT and @NOMINAL require that argument C (number of compounding periods) to be greater than or equal to 1. |
| one argument must be non-zero | @ATAN2 requires that one of its arguments be non-zero. |
| operand contains error condition | Some cell referenced by the operand is in an error condition, or contains a reference to a cell which is in an error condition, etc. |
| operand less than or equal to 0 | @GMEAN does not take arguments that are 0 or negative. |
| operand out of range | @CHAR only takes integers between 1 and 255 |
| operands of "&" must be same type | The "&" operator serves a dual purpose: if its operands are numeric, it performs a bitwise AND operation; if its operands are text strings, it concatenates the two strings. If the operands are neither numeric nor both strings, this error occurs. |
| operands of ".." must be cell reference | The .. operator can only join two cell references to create a range. It cannot join integers to make a range of integers, or do anything else. |
| "Payment" and "FV" must have the same sign | @TERM requires that Payment and Future Value have the same sign. |
| "Payment" must be non-zero | @TERM requires that Payment be non-zero. |
| "Period" must be >= 0 | @SYD requires that Period be greater than or equal to 0. |
| "Period" must be an integer 0 | @FV, @PMT, @PV, and @RATE require that Period be an integer greater than 0. |
| polynomial degree must be between 1 and 10 | @PLS, @POLYFIT, and @POLYCOEF require that the polynomial degree by between 1 and 10. |
| pooled sample size less than 3 | @TTEST2EV requires a pooled sample size greater than 2 to be mathematically defined. |
| population less than 1 | @CVAR, @CSTD, @SSE, @VAR, and @STD require a population greater than or equal to 1. |
| "PV" and "FV" must be non-zero | @CTERM and @RATE require that Present and Future Values be non-zero by definition. |
| "PV" and "FV" must have the same sign | @CTERM and @RATE require that Present and Future Values have the same sign. |
| ranges must be same dimensions | @PTTEST and @CORR require that both their arguments be ranges of equal dimensions, since they work with pairs of values, one value from each range. |
| "Rate" must be greater than -1 | @CTERM, @FV, @PMT, @PV, @TERM, @NPV, @XNPV, and @XIRR require that their Rate argument be greater than -1. |
| "Rate" must be non-zero | @CTERM requires that its Rate argument be non-zero. |
| rate found is less than -1 | @IRR has found a rate less than -1 after iterating the maximum number of times. |
| recursion too deep | This error will occur if Objective Grid encounters "a condition string within a condition string". For example, it happens with a conditional statistical formula whose condition string calls another conditional statistical function which in turn contains its own condition string. |
| result of expression is a range | Some Objective Grid functions, such as @CELLREF and @RANGEREF, return cell references or range references as a result. Cell and range references cannot be the final result of a formula. |
| resultant string too long | A string generated by a formula is too long (greater than 512 characters). |
| row offset out of range | The third argument to the @HLOOKUP function specifies an offset that is less than 0 or is greater than the depth of the range specified in the second argument. |
| sample missing from pair | The two input ranges to the paired t-test (@PTTEST) and Pearson product-moment correlation (@CORR) functions contain paired values. If a value appears at a given position in the first range, there must also be a value in the corresponding position of the second range. |
| sample size less than 2 | @CVARS, @CSTDS, @VARS, @STDS, @TTEST, @PTTEST, @TTEST2UV, and @FTEST require a sample size greater than 1. |
| searching NULL list | searching list with a NULL function. |
| selector out of range | The first argument to @CHOOSE must be 0 or more and be less than or equal to the number of the rest of the arguments - 1. |
| settlement date should be < maturity date | Settlement date should be earlier than maturity date in financial functions. |
| settlement date should be = issue date | Settlement date should not be earlier than the issue date. |
| showing NULL list | showing list with a NULL function |
| "Start Period" must be = 1 | @CUMIPMT and @CUMPRINC require the argument S (start period) to be greater than or equal to 1. |
| starting date should be at beginning of "Dates" | The number in argument D (dates) should not precede the starting date in @XIRR and @XNPV. |
| substring longer than string | @FIND cannot find an instance of the pattern string within a shorter target string, since it is impossible to embed a string in a string shorter than itself. |
| substring not found | @FIND could not find an instance of the pattern string in the target string. |
| token buffer overflow | This error can only occur when a formula is entered that is more complex than Objective Grid can accept. Objective Grid can accept up to 200 operators, numbers, function calls, and text strings in a single formula, which is more than any human can reasonably deal with. |
| too few arguments | The function requires more arguments. |
| too many arguments to function | User has provided too many arguments to the function. No function can take more than 100 arguments. |
| too many arguments | @NOT only takes one argument, unlike the rest of the digital logic functions. @ROW and @COL take 1 argument, @ANNOTATE takes 3-5 arguments. |
| Treasury Bill should not be outstanding more than 1 year | The period between the settlement date and maturity date of a Treasury bill should not exceed one year. |
| unable to parse extract filter | Happens when you are doing an Extract operation and you specify an invalid boolean expression; e.g., #==/5. |
| unable to parse search condition | Happens when you are doing a numeric search and you specify an invalid boolean expression; e.g., #==/5 |
| undefined symbolic name | This error occurs when Objective Grid encounters a symbolic range or cell reference that has not been defined. To use a symbolic name to refer to a cell or range, you must first define it using the SetRangeName command. |
| unexpected question mark | Objective Grid supports C-language compatible condition expressions, which use the operator pair "?" and ":". If one of these operators appears without the other, an error occurs. |
| unresolved name in expression | A name that is not a valid function or named range has been used in the expression. |
| "Upper limit" must be >=0 | The argument U (Upper limit) should be greater than or equal to 0 in @ERF. |
| "values" and "dates" series must have the same dimension | @XIRR and @XNPV require the argument V (cash flow series) and the argument D (date series) to have the same dimension. |
| "Values" must have at least one inflow and one outflow | @MIRR requires the value range contains at least one income (positive value) and one payment (negative value) |
| wrong number of arguments | The number of arguments passed to the function is incorrect. Check Section 14.7, "Quick-Reference Guide to Built-in Functions," to determine the correct number of arguments that the function expects. |
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