IMREAL

What it does

IMREAL(inumber)

IMREAL(inumber) returns the real coefficient of a complex number a+bi. Unlike functions that return complex text, this function returns a real worksheet number.

Try it

=IMREAL("2-3i") returns 2; =IMREAL("-j") returns 0. A numeric argument such as =IMREAL(-7) returns that real number. The extracted value can feed ordinary arithmetic without complex-text formatting.

Quirks

The output is a worksheet number, even when the input is text. A missing real component means zero, not an error. Lowercase i and j identify the imaginary suffix; an uppercase or malformed spelling is rejected by the current parser. Logical values give #VALUE! in the wrapper. Text parsing keeps fifteen leading significant decimal digits, so extracting a long decimal coefficient need not preserve every typed digit.

How to implement

Admit a numeric input as (value,0). For text, parse the optional real component and optional imaginary component. A plus or minus in an exponent, such as the sign in 2e-3, does not divide the two components. An omitted coefficient before i or j means one, and a leading minus means minus one.

Return the parsed real component directly as a number; do not round it through the complex output formatter. Thus -j parses as (0,-1) and returns zero, while 2-3i parses as (2,-3) and returns two. The current decimal-text parser truncates after fifteen significant digits before converting to nearest binary64; a native language complex parser may use a different grammar or more digits.

Rust code

34 imreal "IMREAL" (1, 1) [V "inumber"] |s, a, sv| { complex_number(s, a, |z| Ok(z.re)) }

No implementation has been published with a Handbook test suite for this function.

Version differences

The recorded environments below distinguish a reading from a same-input comparison. Counts describe captured inputs in each environment; overlapping captures and comparisons are not totals of unique worksheet calls.

The record contains no same-input comparison between these environments. Reading different inputs on different builds does not establish either a version change or cross-build agreement.

Recorded environments and comparison details.

Alternatives

IMAGINARY extracts the other coefficient. COMPLEX assembles coefficients into text, IMABS gives magnitude, and IMARGUMENT gives direction.

Named variants

No named variants are recorded yet.