Finding the Nth Root of a Number

Summary: Finding a square root is easy because Excel provides a worksheet function for that purpose. Finding a different root may not be as easy, unless you adapt the formula presented in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

You may be wondering how to use Excel to derive different roots of a number. Finding a square root is easy: you just use the SQRT function. For instance, the following returns the square root of the value in cell B7:

=SQRT(B7)

What about different roots, however? What if you want the fifth root of the value in B7, instead of the square root? Unless you are a math wiz (and I am not), the answer may not be that obvious. All you need to so is raise the value to the power of 1/n. For instance, if you want that fifth root of B7, then you would use the following formula:

=B7^(1/5)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2172) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Finding the Nth Root of a Number