Cube root some contexts, particularly when the number whose cube root is to be taken is a real number, one of the cube roots (in this particular case the real one) is referred to as the "principal cube root", denoted with the radical sign . The cube root operation is associative with exponentiation and distributive with multiplication and division if considering only real numbers, but not always if considering complex numbers: for example, the cube of any cube root of 8 is 8, but the three cube roots of 8 are 8, −4 + 4"i", and −4 − 4"i". The cube roots
Nth root real number is a positive real number, negative numbers do not have real square roots. However, for every negative real number there are two imaginary square roots. For example, the square roots of −25 are 5"i" and −5"i", where "i" represents a number whose square is . A cube root of a number "x" is a number "r" whose cube is "x": Every real number "x" has exactly one real cube root, written formula_4. For example, Every real number has two additional complex cube roots. Expressing the degree of an "n"th root in its exponent form, as in formula_37, makes