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PRICEDISC Function in Microsoft Excel: Syntax, Examples & Troubleshooting

Financial Intermediate Microsoft Excel

Calculate a discounted security price per 100 with Excel PRICEDISC. Convert a discount quotation into price, compare basis choices and scale the result to a face amount.

Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked

Quick answer: PRICEDISC converts an annual discount rate into a security price per 100 face value. It deducts the discount on redemption over the settlement-to-maturity fraction of a year; it does not discount by dividing through an interest-on-price growth factor.

Syntax and arguments

=PRICEDISC(settlement, maturity, discount, redemption, [basis])

The first four arguments are required. discount is the annual discount rate, entered as a percentage or decimal. redemption is the amount repaid per 100 face value. Basis is optional.

Use real date values or DATE formulas for settlement and maturity. Settlement is the purchase settlement date, which is not necessarily the original issue date. The optional basis selects 0 or omitted = US (NASD) 30/360; 1 = actual/actual; 2 = actual/360; 3 = actual/365; 4 = European 30/360. Microsoft documents that settlement, maturity and basis are truncated to integers; time-of-day fractions are not used for intraday accrual.

The examples use January 15 through April 15, 2026, an independently checked 90-day interval. Actual/360 therefore gives a year fraction of 90/360 = 0.25. Enter =DATE(2026,1,15) in B2, =DATE(2026,4,15) in B3 and 2 in B6. Using fixed dates rather than TODAY makes the expected results reproducible.

Worked example: price from an 8% discount quotation

  1. Enter 8% in B4 (discount rate) and 100 in B5 (redemption).
  2. Enter =PRICEDISC(B2,B3,B4,B5,B6) in D2.
  3. Expected result: 98 per 100 face value.

The independent calculation is 100*(1-0.08*90/360) = 98. The discount amount is 2. Entering 8 instead of 8% would supply a rate one hundred times as large.

Second example: another rate and basis

=PRICEDISC(B2,B3,4%,100,2) is expected to return 99. Halving the rate from 8% to 4% halves the quarter’s discount from 2 to 1.

Keeping the 8% quotation but choosing basis 3, =PRICEDISC(B2,B3,8%,100,3), gives approximately 98.02739726, from 100*(1-0.08*90/365). The larger annual denominator makes the year fraction slightly smaller.

Advanced application: scale price to a face amount

If a hypothetical position has face value 25000, put that amount in B8. =D2/100*B8 is expected to give 24500, using the original price of 98. The 100 denominator converts a per-100 quotation into a total amount.

This arithmetic is distinct from passing 25000 into the redemption argument and then treating the result as a per-100 quote. Keep the quote convention visible so the scale is not applied twice. Fees or other settlement charges would require separate inputs and are not included by PRICEDISC.

A useful reverse check is (100-D2)/100/(90/360), expected 8%. Notice that the difference is divided by redemption 100. Dividing by price 98 would produce about 8.163265306%, a different annualized return measure.

Troubleshooting and edge cases

Microsoft documents #VALUE! for invalid date inputs and #NUM! for settlement greater than or equal to maturity or basis outside 0 through 4. It also documents #NUM! when discount or redemption is zero or negative. In particular, the documented domain excludes a zero discount rate, even though the associated elementary price equation has a sensible zero-rate limit.

A percent-formatted result and its stored decimal are the same rate: 8% is 0.08. Do not multiply a rate by 100 and then apply percentage formatting again. Keep a price per 100 separate from the entire investment amount, and preserve full precision until the reporting step.

Actual/actual and the two 30/360 variants have their own date rules; one ordinary 90-day example does not certify every leap-year or month-end boundary. Match the contract’s convention rather than choosing whichever basis produces the most attractive number. The examples explain calculation mechanics and exclude transaction costs, taxes and advice about a real investment.

Compatibility and verification

Microsoft’s reference checked on October 17, 2026 lists: Excel for Microsoft 365 Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac Excel 2024 Excel 2024 for Mac Excel 2021 Excel 2021 for Mac Excel 2019 Excel 2016. This current support list does not establish the first release. The introduction version and last functioning version have not been established from the reviewed documentation. No retirement is asserted.

Example verification: Expected numerical results are independently calculated; text and shape expectations follow the documented contract. These examples have not been tested in Microsoft Excel. No screenshot or native execution is claimed.

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