Summary

To get the cube root of a number, you can use the caret(^) operator with 1/3 as the exponent in a simple formula. In the example shown, the formula in C5 is:

=B5^(1/3)

Generic formula

=number^(1/3)

Explanation

The cube root of a number can be calculated manually with the exponentiation operator (^) or with the POWER function.

Manually with ^

The cube root of a number can be calculated manually by raising a number to the (1/3) using the exponentiation operator (^). In the example shown, the formula in C5 is:

=B5^(1/3)

Be sure to enclose 1/3 in parentheses to control the order of operations.

For background on fractional exponents, see Basic fractional exponents on Khan Academy.

With the POWER function

The cube root of a number can also be calculated with the POWER function, by supplying 1/3 as the power argument. The equivalent formula is:

=POWER(B5,1/3)

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AuthorMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional Award

Dave Bruns

Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.

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