SLN Function (Gnumeric)

• Introduced: Added with the financial functions in Gnumeric 0.17. The retained notes do not provide an exact release date.
• Documented support: Registered in Gnumeric 1.12.62 in the Financial Functions plugin. No retirement is established.
• Last functioning version: Unverified for this guide. Source registration and independent arithmetic do not certify a running application version.
• Scope: English function names and comma-separated formulas. The cached source comes from the October 13–14, 2026 audit; the full guide and reference calculations were checked on October 15, 2026.

SLN divides the depreciable amount, cost minus salvage, equally across the stated life. Its result is one period’s depreciation, not accumulated depreciation or the remaining book value. Gnumeric does not apply a currency conversion, accounting policy, or calendar automatically.

Function-specific help and complete worksheet callback establish the operation described here.

=SLN(cost,salvage,life)

• cost: Initial asset value, in a consistent currency or other value unit.
• salvage: Value remaining after the useful life.
• life: Number of depreciation periods; must be greater than zero. All three arguments are required.

The argument registration and callback were inspected together. A familiar function name in another spreadsheet is not a guarantee of the same input guards.

Enter 10000 in B2, 1000 in B3 and 5 in B4. These represent purchase cost, residual value and a five-year life. In B6 enter =SLN(B2,B3,B4); the reference result is 1800 per year. Put period numbers 1 through 5 in A10:A14. In B10 enter =$B$6 and fill down. In C10 enter =$B$2-A10*$B$6 and fill down: the closing values are 8200, 6400, 4600, 2800 and 1000. The final value equals the stated salvage.

The absolute references hold the asset inputs fixed while the period counter changes. If the life is instead 60 months, supply 60 and label the charge monthly: the result is 150 per month. A life of 5 with monthly headings would overstate depreciation by a factor of twelve.

These are independently calculated expected results from the pinned callback, with repeating or irrational values rounded to twelve decimal places. Error labels follow explicit source guards. They are not screenshots or native execution results.

The schedule has a useful identity: =SLN(10000,1000,5)*5 equals 9000, which also equals cost minus salvage. For a full five-period life, =10000-SLN(10000,1000,5)*5 therefore gives 1000. Keep the calculation at full precision; rounding every periodic charge can leave a small balance that requires an explicit final-period adjustment.

SLN has no period argument because the charge is constant. A fractional life is used directly in the inspected callback: =SLN(10000,1000,2.5) has the reference value 3600. This describes a rate per supplied unit; it does not create a compliant partial-year depreciation schedule on its own.

The callback explicitly returns #NUM! for life zero or negative. It does not reject salvage above cost: =SLN(1000,1200,5) gives the source-derived value -40. Nor does it reject negative cost. Those results are arithmetic behavior, not validation that the asset assumptions make sense. Check cost and salvage separately before filling down a register.

Use SLN when an equal charge matches the intended model; use DDB or SYD for the corresponding declining methods. These functions do not determine which accounting method or tax treatment is appropriate. If the expected 1800 appears as a percentage or date, change the cell display format rather than changing the formula.

Use actual numeric input cells for this fixture. Native handling of blank cells, numeric text, application-localized formula entry and display formatting was not executed here. Keep missing values distinct from deliberately supplied zero; using ISNUMBER to inspect inputs can prevent a text-formatted amount from being mistaken for a verified numeric fixture. The tables do not claim a particular result for untested coercions.

This guide uses the official pinned Gnumeric 1.12.62 source and independent reference arithmetic. It does not claim native execution, GUI validation, current-release parity or cross-product equivalence. The cached source date and the editorial checking date above describe separate activities. For an operational workbook, compare a small copy of this fixture with the installed version before relying on an imported schedule.

SYD, DDB, DB.