MUNIT Function in Excel: Identity Matrix

MUNIT Function in Excel: Identity Matrix featured illustration

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

MathLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2013+

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

MUNIT returns an identity matrix — 1s on the diagonal, 0s elsewhere. Handy for checking MINVERSE results.

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Syntax

=MUNIT(dimension)
Argument What it means
dimension Size.

Examples

Example 1

=MMULT(A2:C4, MINVERSE(A2:C4)) = MUNIT(3)

All TRUE (allowing for rounding) if the inverse is right.

MUNIT in practice

Where you will use it

  • Identity matrix for matrix maths
  • Starting point for transformations
  • Teaching

Worked example

SizeFormulaResult
2=ARRAYTOTEXT(MUNIT(A2))1, 0, 0, 1
3=ARRAYTOTEXT(MUNIT(A3))1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1
1=ARRAYTOTEXT(MUNIT(A4))1

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Size 0#VALUE!
Spill areaNeeds n×n free cells when not wrapped

MINVERSE · MMULT

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Math & rounding24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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