Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Finding the Nth Root of a Number.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 11, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
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 whiz (and I am not), the answer may not be that obvious. All you need to do 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 (12350) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Finding the Nth Root of a Number.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
The POWER function is used to raise one value to another value. However, Excel also provides an exponentiation operator ...
Discover MoreNeed to figure out if a particular cell contains text? You can use the ISTEXT function to easily return this bit of trivia.
Discover MoreWhen you need to count a number of cells based upon a single criteria, the standard function to use is COUNTIF. This tip ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2022-06-11 08:31:11
JB
You could also use: =POWER(B7, 1/5)
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
Comments