To calculate the cube root (which is effectively "square rooting to the power of 3") of a number in Excel, use the caret operator (^) with 1/3 as the exponent.
Calculating Cube Roots in Excel
Excel doesn't have a dedicated CUBEROOT function. Instead, you use a simple formula leveraging exponents. The cube root of a number 'x' is the same as x raised to the power of (1/3).
Formula
The basic formula you'll use is:
=number^(1/3)
Where "number" is either the actual number you want to find the cube root of, or a cell reference containing that number.
Example
Let's say you have the number 27 in cell A1. To find the cube root of 27, you would enter the following formula into any other cell:
=A1^(1/3)
The result will be 3, because 3 3 3 = 27.
Another Example (Direct Number)
To calculate the cube root of 64 directly, you would enter the following formula into a cell:
=64^(1/3)
This will result in 4.
Explanation
number: This is the value you want to calculate the cube root of. It can be a direct number like64, or a cell reference likeA1.^: This is the caret symbol, which is the exponentiation operator in Excel. It means "raised to the power of".(1/3): This is the exponent. A fractional exponent like 1/3 signifies a root. 1/3 specifically indicates the cube root.
Important Considerations
- Negative Numbers: This method works for positive numbers. To handle negative numbers properly, you'll want to use an
IFstatement to ensure you return a negative result if the original number is negative. For example:=IF(A1<0, -ABS(A1)^(1/3), A1^(1/3)) - Error Handling: If you're using a cell reference (e.g., A1) and that cell contains text or a non-numerical value, Excel will return a
#VALUE!error.
