SQRT Google Sheets Function

What Is SQRT Google Sheets Function ?

The SQRT Google Sheets function is used to find the square root of a given number. It returns the positive number of a given value. All you must do is to type out the given function SQRT and enter the number whose square root is to be found in the parentheses.

For instance, to find the square root of 64, you can type in the following formula in an empty cell.

=SQRT(64)

You will get a value of 8 when you press the Enter key. Thus, using the function is simple in Google sheets. Now, let us go ahead and look at the SQRT in Google Sheets function in detail.

SQRT() Google Sheets Formula

To determine a number’s square root in a spreadsheet cell, enter the following formula with the required number.

=SQRT(value)

Arguments

value: (mandatory)  The number whose square root is to be found.

For example, =SQRT(9) gives you 3. In case you give a negative number, you will get an error.

How to Use SQRT Google Sheets Function?

The SQRT function in Google sheets returns the square root value of a number. One can enter the function manually in a cell or through the Google sheets menu.

Entering SQRT in Google Sheets Manually

Let us look at how we can enter the function manually. Below are two numbers in two cells in the Google sheet.

Step 1: To find the square root of 18,  we enter the following formula in cell B1.

Step 2: Now, enter the following formula in cell B1.

=SQRT(A1)

Step 3: You can see that the answer is already displayed as you enter the formula. Press Enter. The square root of 18 is shown in cell B1.

Step 4: Now, drag the formula to cell B2 and you get the square root of 25.

Thus, the simple formula and can be used in many real-time scenarios to measure the square root. 

Entering SQRT in Google Sheets from the Menu Bar

You can quickly enter the SQRT Google Sheets function shortcut through the menu bar

Step 1: Click on the Insert tab, you will get the following options. Now, click on the Function option.

Step 2: Now, choose the Math option and you get the following options.

Step 3: Now, choose the SQRT option. You get the formula inserted in the required cell. You can now enter the value whose square root in Google sheets is to be found.

Examples

Let’s see some examples below. The Examples show how the function can be useful in different scenarios.

Example #1

Let us use the SQRT formula to verify the mathematical function √a, √b = √ab. Let a = 9, b = 16.

Step 1: Use the formula SQRT Google Sheets function for √a, √b. For this apply the formula =PRODUCT(SQRT(B1),SQRT(B2))  in the Excel sheet.

Step 2: Press Enter. You get the value of 12.

Now, to verify the right side of the equation, use the following formula.

=SQRT(9*16).

Step 3: Press Enter. You get a value of 12 again, thereby verifying the equation, √a, √b = √ab.

Thus, the SQRT function is extremely useful to apply for mathematical equations and expressions as otherwise calculating it is a tedious task.

Example #2

In this example, we have a set of numbers whose square root is to be found. Look at the image below.

Step 1: Now, we must find the square root of each of these numbers. Let us begin at cell B2. Type the following formula in cell B2.

Step 2: Press Enter. You get the result in cell B2.

Step 3: Now, using Autofill drag the bottom right corner from cell B2 to B6.

As you can see, the results for all the numbers have been displayed in the cell beside them. You can observe the #NUM error has occurred since we tried to find the square root of a negative number. Thus, the SQRT Google Sheets function can only be used to find the square roots of positive numbers. However, you can overcome this issue by using the ABS function in Google Sheets. ABS() is used to find the absolute value of a number.

For instance, we can change the formula as follows for the last negative value. Let us enter this formula in cell C6 and check the result.

=SQRT(ABS(B6))

Example #3

Let us look at another example. Here, we will find the square root of number in different ways besides the SQRT Google sheets function and some other ways. Given below are a list of numbers. Let us find their root using the SQRT function.

Step 1: Apply the SQRT Google sheets function on cell B2.

=SQRT(A2).

Press Enter.

Step 2: You can see the square root of the first number. Now, using Autofill, drag the formula across to cell B6. You can find the square root for all the remaining numbers.

Step 3: Now, you can cross-verify the results the POWER function.

The Google Sheets POWER function is used to find any power of a number. Its syntax is POWER(value, power). So, to find the square root, we raise use the number ½ as the power argument.

Enter the following formula in cell C2.

=POWER(A2, 1/2)

Step 4: Press Enter. You can see that the answer is the same as when using the SQRT function. Hence, it shows that our answer is accurate.

Step 5: Using Autofill, drag the handle till cell C6 and verify all the results.

Important Things To Note

• If a number is negative, the SQRT Google sheets function returns the #NUM! error. The only way to work around this is by using the ABS function to convert it into a positive number.
• This function is useful in key areas such as data analysis, calculating the standard deviation, variance, etc.
• It can be used to simplify complex mathematical equations in Google Sheets.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Download Template

This article must be helpful to understand SQRT Google Sheets Function, with its formula and examples. You can download the template here to use it instantly.

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