On the accuracy of statistical procedures in Microsoft Excel 2003

Abstract

Some of the problems that rendered Excel 97, Excel 2000 and Excel 2002 unfit for use as a statistical package have been fixed in Excel 2003, though some have not. Additionally, in fixing some errors, Microsoft introduced other errors. Excel's new and improved random number generator, at default, is supposed to produce uniform numbers on the interval (0,1); but it also produces negative numbers. Excel 2003 is an improvement over previous versions, but not enough has been done that its use for statistical purposes can be recommended. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.