EXP in Collabora Office: Exponential Growth, Decay and Natural-Base Calculations

• Introduced: documented by Collabora Office 26.04; the original introduction release is not established.
• Availability: EXP is documented in the official 26.04 Calc Help.
• Scope: desktop Calc documentation; separately deployed Online and mobile versions have not been verified.
• Checked: October 13, 2026, against the official EXP reference. Documentation check; not a native application test. Expected examples are independently calculated.

=EXP(number)

The argument is the exponent. The base is always e. If you need an arbitrary base such as 2 or 10, use POWER or the exponent operator instead.

The Collabora reference documents e as approximately 2.71828182845904. A decimal display is an approximation; the function name is clearer than manually typing an approximation of e into every formula.

Enter 0, 1, 2 and -1 in A2:A5. Enter =EXP(A2) in B2 and fill down.

A negative exponent produces a positive fraction for these inputs. It does not make the result negative. At exponent zero, the result is one.

Suppose a mathematical model starts at 100 units, uses a continuous per-period growth parameter of 0.04, and runs for three periods. Put those values in D2, D3 and D4.

=D2*EXP(D3*D4)

Expected result: approximately 112.749685. The exponent is 0.12. This is a model calculation, not a forecast guarantee.

Keep the rate parameter and period length consistent. If the parameter is per year, the time must be measured in years. A three-month interval would be 0.25 year in a simple equal-year model, not the number 3.

Change the starting quantity to 80, the decay parameter to -0.2 per period, and the number of periods to 5.

=80*EXP(-0.2*5)

Expected result: approximately 29.430355. The exponent is -1, so the quantity is 80 divided by e. The negative parameter reduces the positive starting quantity.

This formula assumes the stated continuous exponential model. It should not be used as an empirical decay law without checking whether that model fits the actual process.

Two expressions that look similar answer different questions:

=100*EXP(0.1*2)
=100*POWER(1.1;2)

Expected results: approximately 122.140276 and 121. The first uses a continuous rate parameter of 0.1 for two periods. The second applies an effective 10% multiplication twice.

Do not silently swap the two when migrating a calculation. “Ten percent” needs a convention and a period before it is a complete model input.

For a continuous parameter of 0.05 per period:

=EXP(0.05)
=EXP(0.05)-1

Expected results: approximately 1.051271 and 0.051271. The second can be displayed as approximately 5.127110% with six decimal places in the percent display.

This demonstrates the distinction between a multiplier and a percentage change. Subtract one from the factor to obtain the relative increase; do not label the entire factor as a 105.127110% increase.

The exponent represents a dimensionless product. Multiplying a per-period rate by a number of matching periods produces that form. Mixing an annual parameter with a count of days without conversion is a model error, even when the spreadsheet accepts the syntax.

Exponential values grow rapidly. Very large positive or negative exponents can encounter finite-precision limits; this guide does not establish a universal overflow/underflow threshold or exact error code for all Collabora builds. Use realistic bounds and inspect upstream inputs when a result is extreme.

If a decay result is larger than the starting value, check the sign. If the answer is off by a large factor, check whether a percent was entered as 5 instead of 5% or 0.05. If the result differs from repeated compounding, confirm that both formulas use the same rate definition.

For native validation, record the application version and locale, reproduce the four-exponent table, and compare the rounded growth and decay results. All expected values here are independently calculated; none is a claimed Collabora observation.

• Collabora Office 26.04: EXP, checked October 13, 2026.
• Editorial standards.