SYD 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.

SYD allocates more depreciation to earlier periods. The inspected formula is (cost-salvage)*(life-period+1)*2/(life*(life+1)). With an integer life, the denominator represents the sum of the period numbers. The result is the charge for one period, not the running total.

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

=SYD(cost,salvage,life,period)

• cost: Initial asset value.
• salvage: Residual value after depreciation.
• life: Positive number of periods.
• period: Period whose depreciation is required, normally an integer from 1 through life. All four 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.

Put cost 5000 in B2, salvage 200 in B3 and life 5 in B4. Enter period numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in A8:A12. In B8 enter =SYD($B$2,$B$3,$B$4,A8) and fill down. The reference charges are 1600, 1280, 960, 640 and 320. In C8 enter =$B$2-SUM($B$8:B8) and fill down to track closing book value. The resulting balances are 3400, 2120, 1160, 520 and 200.

The charge decreases by 320 each period in this example, while total depreciation is 4800. The full schedule is valuable because a correct-looking second-period result alone cannot show that the last period and residual value reconcile.

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.

For a five-period life the weights are 5/15, 4/15, 3/15, 2/15 and 1/15. Multiplying each by the 4800 depreciable amount explains the table without relying on the worksheet. Their sum is one, so the total equals cost minus salvage. Compare this with =SLN(5000,200,5), whose reference charge is 960 every period. Both totals match; the timing differs.

The callback uses life and period as supplied floating-point values. It does not truncate fractional period 2.5; its source-derived charge is 1120 for these inputs. A fractional result is an algebraic interpolation, not evidence that partial fiscal periods are handled according to a particular accounting rule.

Gnumeric’s inspected SYD callback checks only that life is positive. It does not enforce period between 1 and life. For this same asset, period 0 yields 1920, period 6 yields zero and period 7 yields -320 in the reference model. Prevent out-of-schedule period numbers explicitly; absence of an error does not mean the schedule is valid.

Salvage above cost makes the charges negative because the depreciable amount is negative. Use a separate check for nonnegative cost, an appropriate residual value and integral schedule periods. Zero or negative life returns #NUM! in the callback. Use the same unit for life and period; changing the headers from years to months does not change the calculation.

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.

SLN, DDB, DB.