If you are after -(0.2318^(5/4)), then Ron's solution gives the same answer,
but you could simply use =-(0.2318^(5/4)).
If you are trying to calculate =(-0.2318)^(5/4) then the answer is not real
but a complex number.

The obvious comparison is that -(1^0.5) would be -1, but (-1)^0.5 is the
imaginary number i.
Similarly -(2^2) is -4, but (-2)^2 is +4.
--
David Biddulph

Ron@Buy wrote:
A simple solution is to reformat your equation to (0.2318^(5/4))*-1

"Jess" wrote:

Hi, i'm using the cells to create data sets, however, the function i
typed in shows "#NUM!".

I checked over my function and it came down to the problem that excel
wouldn't let me calculate -0.2318^(5/4).

I don't really understand why, since I can definitely calculate the
value (to be -0.1608) using a scientific calculator.

Can someone help me?