ERFC Function in Excel: Complementary Error Function

ERFC Function in Excel: Complementary Error Function 1
⏱ 1 min readUpdated 5 October 2026

EngineeringLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. ERFC in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions

ERFC returns 1 – ERF(x): the tail beyond x.

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Syntax

=ERFC(x)
Argument What it means
x Value

Examples

Example 1

=ROUND(ERFC(A2),5)

Result: 0.4795. See the worked example table below for more cases.

ERFC in practice

Where you will use it

  • Probability of measurement errors within limits
  • Diffusion and heat equations
  • Signal processing

Worked example

xFormulaResult
0.5=ROUND(ERFC(A2),5)0.4795
1=ROUND(ERFC(A3),5)0.1573
2=ROUND(ERFC(A4),5)0.00468

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Confusing with NORM.S.DISTERF(x/SQRT(2)) = 2*NORM.S.DIST(x)-1
Negative x in old ERFOlder versions gave #NUM!; ERF.PRECISE accepts negatives

ERF · ERFC · NORM.S.DIST

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