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: Deriving Antilogs.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 10, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Excel allows you to use quite a few different trigonometric functions in your worksheets. If you are big into trig, you may wonder why there are no functions that derive antilogs.
An antilog in Excel is technically defined as the inverse of the LOG10 function. The LOG10 function means the logarithm in base 10 of a number. Given that definition, the antilog, or inverse log, of any number is simply 10 raised to that number. For instance, the base-10 log of 4 is 0.60206, and the base-10 antilog of 4 is 10,000 (10 raised to the fourth power). This also means that the base-10 antilog of the base-10 log of 4 is, again, 4. (Raising 10 to the 0.60206 power is 4.)
The following table shows how you would derive the antilogs of the different log functions within Excel.
| Base | Number | Log | Antilog (Power) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x | y | =LOG(x,y) | =x^y | |||
| e | y | =LN(y) | =e^y | |||
| 10 | y | =LOG10(y) | =10^y |
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12486) 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: Deriving Antilogs.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Excel is used by many people to hold all sorts of data, not just numbers. If you have cells that include meaningful ...
Discover MoreSometimes it can be confusing to figure out the source of an error that is displayed in your worksheet. Excel provides a ...
Discover MoreWhen processing data in a worksheet, you may have a need to know what the smallest (lowest) even value in a range is. You ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2022-12-10 06:42:11
Mike J
Re my last post, Now I've got it wrong
Line 1 should be
x y z =LOG(y,x) =x^z
The spacing looked fine when I posted it. This site does sometimes mess up formatting.
2022-12-10 05:43:13
Mike J
I think the first example should be =log(y,x)
Showing e^y can be calculated by =exp(y) would have been helpful too.
Base Number Log Antilog (Power)
x y z =LOG(y,x) =y^z
e y z =LN(y) =e^z or =exp(z)
10 y z =LOG10(y) =10^z
Is less confusing.
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