Exponents refer to how many times a number should be multiplied by itself in a given scenario. 10 with an exponent of 3 is typed 103, and equals 10*10*10 or 1,000. Let’s learn how to work with exponents in Microsoft Excel.
How to Find Exponents with the Power Formula
Excel offers you multiple ways of working with exponents. The first is called the Power formula.
Imagine you have three numbers, and you want to apply the exponent of 5 (called the power) to them.
Click into empty cell B2. Type =, the universal start of every Excel formula. Continue by typing POWER(. Remember, you want to raise the value in cells A2, A3, and A4 to the 5th power.
Go ahead and click into cell A2. Your formula now reads:
=POWER(A2,
Continue by typing in your power, 5, and finally 5. Your formula now is:
=POWER(A2,5)
Hit Enter on your keyboard, and you’ll see your solution: 3,125.
Now, in Excel, there’s no need to type formulas over and over. Instead, hover over cell B2‘s lower right corner. When you see the + appear, click and drag the formula downwards to fill cells B3 and B4.
Excel will automatically apply your formula to the values in cells A3 and A4.
How to Quickly Raise Any Number to a Power in Excel
Quick, what’s 17 raised to the 4th power? Likely, you don’t know the answer off the top of your head. Fortunately, Excel offers a fast, formula-driven shortcut to help you find out.
Click into any empty cell. Once again, type =, followed by your number, 17.
You should see:
=17
Next, type in a caret ^ symbol, followed by your power.
Your formula is now:
=17^4
Hit Enter, and Excel returns your solution: 83,521.
As you can see, Excel makes working with exponents a breeze by offering you a pair of quick formula options.
Scatter Plot in Excel