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.
Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!
Sometimes it can be confusing to figure out the source of an error that is displayed in your worksheet. Excel provides a ...
Discover MoreWhen working with arrays in a formula, it can be a bit confusing to understand how they work. In this tip I examine a ...
Discover MoreIf you need to analyze some text to determine if it contains accented characters, there are a couple of ways you can ...
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 © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments