ISBINARY

Returns TRUE if value is binary, otherwise FALSE

Binary is any value that consists of only zeros and ones.

Syntax:

ISBINARY(value)

value is the value that is being checked.

Example:

If value contains 5:

ISBINARY(5)

Returns FALSE

If value contains 0101:

ISBINARY(0101)

Returns TRUE

Value:

Result:

TRUE

Application:

Data Validation in a Sales Spreadsheet

Imagine you are a data analyst for a company and you've received a sales report. The 'Units Sold' column is supposed to contain only numerical values, but you suspect there might be some text entries, which would mess up your calculations. You can use the ISNUMBER function to quickly identify any non-numerical data.

The Goal

To create a new column that checks if each entry in the 'Units Sold' column is a valid number.

The Data Table

	Order ID	Product	Units Sold
	A	B	C
1	1001	Laptop	5
2	1002	Monitor	2
3	1003	Keyboard	N/A
4	1004	Mouse	10
5	1005	Webcam	Three

The Formula

In a new column, let's call it "Is a Number?", you would enter the following formula for each row:

ISNUMBER(C1)

This formula checks the value in cell C1 (which is '5') and returns TRUE because it is a number.

You would then enter this formula into the other cells for the rest of the column.

The Result Table

	Order ID	Product	Units Sold	Is a Number?
	A	B	C	D
1	1001	Laptop	5	TRUE
2	1002	Monitor	2	TRUE
3	1003	Keyboard	N/A	FALSE
4	1004	Mouse	10	TRUE
5	1005	Webcam	Three	FALSE

Interpretation

The formula in the "Is a Number?" column returns TRUE for rows 1001, 1002, and 1004, confirming that the 'Units Sold' values are valid numbers.
It returns FALSE for rows 1003 and 1005, highlighting the data errors. You can now easily see that "N/A" and "Three" are not numerical and need to be corrected before you can perform any calculations on the column.