UMINUS in Google Sheets: Reverse a Number’s Sign
Reverse signs with UMINUS in Google Sheets, audit signed values, distinguish negation from ABS and make power-expression grouping explicit.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: =UMINUS(125) has expected result −125. =UMINUS(-40) has expected result 40. UMINUS reverses a number’s sign; it does not force every input to be negative.
Syntax and meaning
=UMINUS(value)
The single required argument is the number whose sign should be reversed. Google’s UMINUS reference describes the result as equivalent to multiplying that value by −1. No additional arguments or optional defaults are documented.
For an ordinary numeric scalar, =UMINUS(A2), =-A2 and =-1*A2 express the same sign reversal. The function form can make the grouping in a generated or nested formula easier to see.
Worked example: reverse a set of signed amounts
Enter this table in A1:B5:
| Row | A: Label | B: Signed amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Label | Signed amount |
| 2 | Original charge | 125 |
| 3 | Original credit | −40 |
| 4 | No adjustment | 0 |
| 5 | Fractional amount | 12.5 |
Put Reversed amount in C1. In C2 enter and fill through C5:
=UMINUS(B2)
Expected C2:C5: −125, 40, 0, −12.5. Reversing zero leaves mathematical zero. A negative original credit becomes positive, which is appropriate for reversing the entire signed entry.
Enter =-1*B2 in D2 as an arithmetic check: expected −125. It confirms the intended sign operation for the clean numeric input, not a broader rule about text coercion.
UMINUS is different from ABS
ABS removes the sign by returning magnitude. UMINUS reverses it. With an input of −40, ABS gives 40 and UMINUS also gives 40, but they disagree for a positive input: ABS(125) is 125, while UMINUS(125) is −125.
If a specific output column must always contain a nonpositive number, a deliberately different formula is:
=-ABS(B2)
For original inputs 125 and −40, expected outputs are −125 and −40. This discards the original sign rather than reversing it. Choose the rule based on the data’s meaning; do not use it merely to make a report look consistent.
Advanced application: reverse a complete signed subtotal
Use just the first two amounts, B2:B3. Their sum is 125−40 = 85. To reverse the total:
=UMINUS(SUM(B2:B3))
Expected result: −85. The sum of the corresponding reversed entries, =SUM(C2:C3), also has expected result −85.
This equality is a useful check when creating a reversal column: every included original entry should have a matching reversal, with the same row boundaries. It does not verify that a real-world transaction is authorized or that those are the entries a report should include.
Applying the operation twice returns the original number:
=UMINUS(UMINUS(125))
Expected result: 125. If a reversal process runs twice, the signs will be restored. Keep original and transformed columns separate so you can see what transformation has already occurred.
Group compound expressions explicitly
=UMINUS(10-3)
Expected result: −7. The subtraction inside the function produces 7 before its sign is reversed.
For powers, these expressions deliberately mean different things:
=UMINUS(3^2)
=POWER(UMINUS(3),2)
Expected results: −9 and 9. The first squares 3 and then reverses the result. The second reverses 3 first and then squares −3. Explicit nesting avoids relying on a remembered operator-precedence rule from another application.
Errors, limits and troubleshooting
- If an output is positive, check whether the source was negative. That is correct sign reversal.
- If a column looks unchanged, check whether another formula reverses the sign again or a number format hides signs.
- If the formula fails, reduce it to one intentional numeric input and inspect local syntax.
- If a source contains a dash as a placeholder, do not treat that text character as numeric zero without a documented cleaning rule.
- Preserve units and sign conventions. Negative temperature, negative change and accounting credit are different meanings even though the arithmetic operation is the same.
The short Google reference does not specify all blank, Boolean, text or array cases, nor a complete native error-code table. This guide makes no unsupported claims about those behaviors. Numeric scalar examples should not be generalized into a range-broadcast promise.
Availability and verification
UMINUS is documented for the rolling Google Sheets service. The sources reviewed do not establish an original release date or last functioning numbered version. Other applications may offer a unary minus operator without the same named function; check formula support during migration.
Evidence status: NOT_TESTED_IN_GOOGLE_SHEETS. Google’s individual reference was inspected on October 17, 2026. Every sign, subtotal and grouped-expression result was independently calculated. No native Sheets run or screenshot is claimed.