Negative Values
Excel internally represents octal numbers in binary using 30 bits. The first bit indicates whether the number is positive or negative. The remaining bits indicate the magnitude of the number. The reason why -3 maps to 7777777775 is because excel represents negative numbers internally (in binary) using the two’s complement notation. Two’s complement notation, when converted to Octal, starts at the highest 10 digit octal number and goes backwards.
Dave Bruns
Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.
