Name

SQRT

Synopsis

You can use SQRT to determine the square root of a positive numeric value.

To Calculate

=SQRT(Number)
Number

This required argument specifies a positive number for which you want to find the square root.

Example

Figure 14-22 illustrates the difference between using SQRT and SQRTPI. SQRT determines the square root of the specified numeric value.

SQRT determines the square root of a number, whereas SQRTPI multiplies the value by pi and then determines the square root

Figure 14-22. SQRT determines the square root of a number, whereas SQRTPI multiplies the value by pi and then determines the square root

Note

If the value of the Number argument is negative SQRT returns an error. To ensure you don’t receive an error you can combine SQRT with ABS, as in =SQRT(ABS(-36)). By doing this, if the value of the Number argument is negative ABS converts it to a positive value before SQRT sees it eliminating the potential error. Keep in mind, this does not correct the source of the negative number, it only keeps SQRT from returning an error.

Get Excel 2000 in a Nutshell now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.