Cube root polar angle by three in order to define a cube root. With this definition, the principal cube root of a negative number is a complex number, and for instance will not be −2, but rather . This difficulty can also be solved by considering the cube root as a multivalued function: if we write the original complex number "x" in three equivalent forms, namely The principal complex cube roots of these three forms are then respectively Unless , these three complex numbers are distinct, even though the three representations of "x" were equivalent. For example, may then be calculated to
Nth root group: Find the square root of 152.2756. Find the cube root of 4192 to the nearest hundredth. The principal "n"th root of a positive number can be computed using logarithms. Starting from the equation that defines "r" as an "n"th root of "x", namely formula_80 with "x" positive and therefore its principal root "r" also positive, one takes logarithms of both sides (any base of the logarithm will do) to obtain The root "r" is recovered from this by taking the antilog: For the case in which "x" is negative and "n" is odd, there is one real root "r"