ISNUMBER
Checks whether a cell holds a number. Helps you find amounts and quantities that were accidentally entered as text and don’t make it into calculations.
ISNUMBER(value)- value
- The cell or formula whose result you want to check.
Return value
TRUE if the value is a number, including a date. For text, even text that looks like a number, such as "5", you get FALSE.
Examples
Which amounts are stored as text
fx
A
B
C
D
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Payment
Amount
Number?
Rent
45000
Internet
1,500 USD
Office supplies
3200
Cleaning
8000 dollars
Water
1200
Sheet1
Details
ISNUMBER returns TRUE if the cell holds a number, and FALSE if it holds text, nothing or an error. Dates in Excel are numbers too, so for them the answer is TRUE.
A typical case: in an export, some amounts are written like “1,500 USD”. That’s text, and SUM skips it. ISNUMBER quickly shows such rows.
Common mistakes
- A number stored as text looks like a number, but ISNUMBER returns FALSE. It’s usually aligned to the left edge of the cell.
- An empty cell isn’t a number: ISNUMBER returns FALSE, not an error.