How to easily solve fractional powers?

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#1

I just watched this video and I kept wondering, is there any easy way to calculate a fractional power.
This lesson uses the example of 4096^(1/3) which is the same as the square root, but it gives no examples of how to calculate this.

When I search online for examples, they all say to use the root to calculate the fractional power.
I understand the concept, and in the video it’s stated that sometimes you just need to do some guesswork to get where you need to be, but I wish there was a more clearer way of solving this rather than substituting one problem for another.

#2

Hey Tony,

Do you know how you can take the third root of something?
You have two options in your calculator:

  1. third root of (4096), it’s the square root with the little 3 above it
  2. You type in (4096)^(1/3)

Both do the job :slight_smile:

Kind regards,
Lisa

#3

Hey Lisa,

Thanks for the reply.
I know both do the job if you punch them into a calculator, but I was wondering if there any easy and simple way of calculating the third root on paper or something similar.

I’ve found some videos and articles on how to do this, but the methods seem very complicated and it’s not really explained why the method works.
Like this one: How to Calculate Cube Root by Hand (with Pictures) - wikiHow

#4

Never saw this, interesting! I would use a computer to do so! Computations bigger than to the power 2 always take a lot of time. There is no way to do this in a very easy manner.

Kind regards, Lisa

#5

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