Try it
A cube's volume is its edge multiplied by itself three times. Compressed illustrative scale.
∛x3
Understand the result
What's going on
Cubing a number means multiplying it by itself twice more - a volume instead of an area. A cube root undoes that: it asks what number, multiplied by itself three times, gives you this one. Unlike square roots, negative numbers have real cube roots too.
The formula
∛x = y, where y × y × y = x
Show the derivation, mnemonic, and worked example
Build it up
3 × 3 × 3 = 27, so the cube root of 27 is 3. It’s the same idea as a square root, just one multiplication deeper - which is exactly why it comes up when you’re working backward from a volume to a side length.
Worked example
Worked example
x = 27
3 × 3 × 3 = 27
∛27 = 3
