NaN

In computing, NaN, which stands for Not a Number, is a value or symbol that is usually produced as the result of an operation on invalid input operands. For example, most floating-point units are unable to explicitly calculate the square root of negative numbers, and will instead indicate that the operation was invalid and return a NaN result.

An invalid operation is not the same as an arithmetic overflow (which returns a positive or negative infinity). Arithmetic operations involving NaN always produce NaN, allowing the value to propagate through a calculation so that errors can be detected at the end without extensive testing during intermediate stages.

In MagicPlot NaN also is used to represent empty cells in tables.

Examples

Expression	Result
0^0	1
0/0	NaN
sqrt(-1)	NaN
1/0	Infinity
-1/0	-Infinity