On Mar 28, 2:03 pm, wrote:
=geomean(1+B2:B4) - 1
Alternatively, the simple formula (not an array formula):
=(B4/B1)^(1/3) - 1

Thanks for that explanation. What operation does the ^ represent in
Excel

I am so glad you asked, first because it is always good to ask ("there
are no dumb questions"), and second because it explains why I prefer
to give people solutions that use Excel functions instead of
exponential formulas, which others insist are "better" because they
more efficient (and they are right).

Anyway, to answer your question: in this context, "^" (called caret
or circumflex) is an arithmetic operator that means "raise to the
power of". That is, "y^n" means "y raised to the power of n", which
means multiply y times itself n times.

Your next question might be: "what the heck does it mean to raise y
to the 1/3 power; that is, to multiply y times itself 1/3 times
(huh!!)?".

That notation means: take the n-th root -- the "third" or cube root,
in this case. We are trying find the percent change which, when
applied 3 times to successive results starting with the first number
or present value (first 100), will result in the last number or future
value (last 100).

Of course, in this case, the answer is quite trivial: 0%. For a more
interesting result, change the last 100 to 150 for example.

HTH.