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.
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.
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