What is the cubed root of 125?

I thought you were actually asking, Slippy! I was getting ready to reprimand you.

I got an A in 'O' level maths and a B at'A' Level I'll have you know. Part of a misspent youth going to races meant your arithmetic was very good at an early age . It's quite fun watching her squirm though as I honestly believe that she couldn't work it out.

How to calculate a cube root: http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Cube-Root-by-Hand

Write down the number of which you want to calculate the cube root, separating the digits into groups of three, starting at the decimal point, from both directions. Draw a cube radical sign over the number, and put a decimal point over the radical directly above the decimal point in the number. For example, let us calculate the cube root of 10, so we separate it as 10. 000 000.

Start with the leftmost group of number(s), and find the biggest integer whose cube is less than or equal to it. Write the integer above the radical, and its cube under the first group. Draw a line under that cube, and subtract it from the first group. In our example, 2^3=8

Bring down the next group of numbers into the remainder, and draw a vertical line to the left of the resulting number. To the left of the vertical line, write three hundred times the square of the number above the radical, a plus sign, thirty times the number above the radical, a multiplication sign, an underscore character, another plus sign, another underscore character, the exponent 2, an equals sign, and some blank space for the answer. For our example, bring down the three 0's. 300 times square of 2 is 1200, 30 times 2 is 60, so write "1200+60*_+_^2=(blank space)" to the left of the vertical line.

Find the biggest integer N that would fit into both underscore places, and give a number in the blank space such that integer N times the number is less than the current remainder. Put the integer N above the radical and into both underscore places, calculate the number to the right of the equal sign, multiply this number by N, write the product under the current remainder, draw a line under that, and subtract to obtain the new remainder. For our example, the integer is 1, 1200+60*1+1^2=1261, and 1*1261=1261, which subtracted from 2000 is 739. If the current answer above the radical has the desired accuracy, stop. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.

Repeat the previous two steps to find the next digit in the cube root.

The result above the radical is the cube root, accurate to three significant figures. In our example, the cube root of 10 is 2.15. Verify that by calculating 2.15^3=9.94, which approximates 10. If you need greater accuracy, simply continue the process.

"This simple maths question"
Sounds more of an arithmetic question than maths :P

Never heard of him Mr.B. Are you a Hammer then?

Through and through slippy, and I must confess to being somewhat in a state of shock this season 

History Maker 11 Dec at 18:13 .... "you have to backward engineer it" .... wins 1st prize in today's Jargon Stakes.

Can you settle a Dundee shuffle though? Without an OTT?

Why is it called a Dundee Shuffle by the way, any ideas?

IF I WAS THE MAN WHO MADE THE DICTIONARY I WOULD HAVE CALLED IT THE TRIANGLE ROOT AS A TRIANGLE HAS 3 SIDES 5 TRIANGLED =5×5×5 =125

WHY CALL IT THE CUBIC ROOT WHEN A CUBE HAS MORE THAN 3 SIDES,

NO WONDER KIDS GET CONFUSED WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT CUBES WHEN THEY MEAN TRIANGLES

Oops no nothing to do with the drink.

She's been made to look rather stupid, rather than she made herself look stupid.

1.01 with a clear head and asked the question on a piece of paper she'd know the answer, but when you are focused on other things, live on air, and someone throws in an infantile question it can throw you, which it did.

Price of Lego these days he probably can't afford to.

j.d. re the perm placepots please refer to Clungehungry's 22.23 post

or if not

ask the Education Secretary

less the multiples in the same races

20*3*1*2*2*2?

60 combinations of 12 lines

actually just 20*3 as they are all individual lines