How to solve y = -3E-11x6 ??

[lucs]

Hi all,

I'm new to excel and I'm trying to understand how to solve this formula. If my x = 5, how can I solve this equation? I'm a bit confused...

y = -3E-11x6


Thanks!

[MarvinP]

Hi lucs,

Normally formulas to solve, have a y and an x in them like y = 3x +4 . The x doesn't mean "times" when you have the equal sign and both y and x in the line.

Now your formula is a stumper.

To know exactly what it is trying to do may need some spaces or "()" to show what it means. The -3E-11 part looks like that is -3 to time 10 to the power of -11. That would be -.00000000003 (maybe). Then it looks like you want to multiply that time X and then by 6. The notation of your formula given doesn't give me a clue on how it is supposed to be solved.

[MrShorty]

Or, perhaps, your formula means y=-3E-11*x^6, in which case, enter the desired value for x in a cell, then enter the formula exactly like that, replacing "x" with a reference to the cell where you entered the desired value for x.

As someone who is new to excel, I suggest a page like this https://support.office.com/en-us/art...7-6350d512d2dc to familiarize yourself with how to enter and use formulas in a spreadsheet.

[joeu2004]

I'm new to excel and I'm trying to understand how to solve this formula. If my x = 5, how can I solve this equation? I'm a bit confused... y = -3E-11x6

Ostensibly, enter 5 into X1, then enter the following formula into Y1: =-3E-11*X1^6.

Of course, you can use any two cells.

However, I wonder if you copied that formula from the trendline label of an Excel chart. In that case, -3E-11 is rounded, and if you use that formula as-is, it is not likely to calculate the trendline values as you expect.

You should format the trendline label to display more decimal places. For example, right-click on the trendline label, then click on Format Trendline Label, Number, Scientific, and enter the number of decimal places (I prefer 14).

[lucs]

Thanks Marvin, MrShorty & Joeu2004! All of your reponses were really helpful. Joeu2004, your insight was especially helpful, since I was trying to deal with an equation from a trendline. I did what you suggested (reformatting the values of the trendline) and I was actually able to make sense out of it. I had to use 14 decimal places (like you suggested). Thank you so much again, guys! You are awesome, Lucs

[MrShorty]

One thing I might add, if you need to do a lot of trendline analysis like this, I might suggest that you become familiar with the =LINEST() function https://support.office.com/en-us/art...rs=en-US&ad=US Using the LINEST() function, you can perform these regressions directly in the spreadsheet without the hassle of transferring coefficients from the chart to the spreadsheet.