You are on the Home/Excel/Add-Ins/Solve Polynomials/Polynomials Help page
Google
Web This Site

Installation

Solving a quadratic

Solving a cubic

Solving a quartic

 

 

Installation

The downloaded file, polynomials.zip, contains two files � polynomials.xla and polynomials.hlp. Unzip them into a directory of your choosing.

From within Excel add the polynomials.xla file as an Add-In (Tools | Add-Ins�)

For more details see Common Installation Instructions.

You will have four new functions available in the User Defined category � Quadratic, Cubic, Quartic, and Biquadratic. You can get help for each function in the �normal� manner with the function wizard.

 

Solving a quadratic

Returns the solution to as two numbers. Enter the formula as an array formula. Requires a minimum of two cells and four if the result is in the complex plane. For example, the two roots of are , where .

If the formula is entered in four cells, the result will always contain complex answers.

Consider the above example. Assume the coefficients are in a spreadsheet as:

The formula (entered as an array formula) is:

Then, the result will look like:

 

Solving a cubic

Returns the solution to as three numbers. Enter the formula as an array formula. Requires three cells if the answers are all real numbers and six if the result is in the complex plane.

If the formula is entered in six cells, the result will always contain complex answers.

 

Solving a quartic

Returns the solution to as four numbers. Enter the formula as an array formula. Requires four cells if the answers are all real numbers and eight if the result is in the complex plane.

If the formula is entered in eight cells, the result will always contain complex answers.