cube root

(algorithm)
Definition: This describes a "long hand" or manual method of calculating or extracting cube
roots. Calculation of a cube root by hand is similar to long-hand division or manual square root.
Suppose you need to find the cube root of 55,742,968. Set up a "division" with the number under
the radical. Mark off triples of digits, starting from the decimal point and working left. (The
decimal point is a period (.), and commas (,) mark triples of digits.)
____________
\/ 55,742,968.

Look at the leftmost digit(s) (55 in this case). What is the largest number whose cube is less than
or equal to it? It is 3, whose cube is 27. Write 3 above, write the cube below and subtract.
__3_________
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---28

Now bring down the next three digits (742).

__3_________
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---28742

Coming up with the next "divisor" is more involved than for square roots. First bring down 3
times the square of the number on top (3 3=27) leaving room for two more digits (27_ _).
__3_________
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---27_ _) 28742

What is the largest number that we can put in the next position and multiply times the divisor and
still be less than or equal to what we have? (Algebraically, what is d such that d 2700
28742?) 10 might work (since 10 2700 = 27000), but we can only use a single digit, so we'll
try 9.
__3___9_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---27_ _) 28742

The second step in making the divisor is adding 3 times the previous number on top (3) times the
last digit (9) times 10 (3 3 9 = 81 10 = 810) and the square of the last digit (9 = 81).
2700
810
+ 81
-----

3591

Our new divisor is 3591.

__3___9_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3591) 28742

Multiply by the last digit (9 3591 = 32319) and subtract. But that is too big! So we'll try 8 as
the next digit instead.
__3___8_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---27_ _) 28742

We repeat the second step of adding 3 times the previous number on top (3) times the last digit
(8) times 10 (3 3 8 = 72 10 = 720) and the square of the last digit (8 = 64).
2700
720
+ 64
----3484

Our new divisor is 3484.

__3___8_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742

Now multiply by the last digit (8 3484 = 27872) and subtract.

__3___8_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742
-27872
-----870

We are ready to start over on the next digit. Bring down the next three digits. The divisor starts as
3 times the square of the number on top (3 38=4332) leaving room for two more digits (4332_
_).
__3___8_____
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742
-27872
-----4332_ _) 870968

It looks like 2 is the next digit.

__3___8___2_
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742
-27872
------

4332_ _) 870968

Add 3 times the previous number on top (38) times the last digit (2) times 10 (3 38 2 = 228
10 = 2280) and the square of the last digit (2 = 4).
433200
2280
+
4
------435484

Our new divisor is 435484.

__3___8___2_
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742
-27872
-----435484 ) 870968

Now multiply by the last digit (2 435484 = 870968) and subtract.

__3___8___2_
\/ 55,742,968.
-27
---3484) 28742
-27872
-----435484 ) 870968
-870968
------0

So the cube root of 55742968 is 382. You can continue to get as many decimal places as you
need: just bring down more triples of zeros.
Why does this work?
Consider (10A + B) = 1000A + 3 100AB + 3 10AB + B and think about finding the
volume of a cube.
The volume of the three thin plates is 3 100AB. The volume of the three skinny sticks is 3
10AB. The tiny cube is B. If we know A and the volume of the cube, S, what B should we
choose?
We previously subtracted A from S. To scale to 1000A, we bring down three more digits (a
factor of 1000) of the length of S. We write down 3 times A squared (3A), but shifted two places
(100 3A or 3 100A). We estimate B. We add 30 times A times B (30 AB or 3 10AB)
and B squared. Multiplying that by B gives us 3 100AB + 3 10AB + B. When we subtract
that from the remainder (remember we already subtracted A), we have subtracted exactly (10A +
B). That is, we have improved our knowledge of the cube root by one digit, B.
We take whatever remains, scale again by 1000, by bringing down three more digits, and repeat
the process.