Mathematica - Rational Exponent Not Showing Radical Symbol

Question

I'm struggling with getting Mathematica to show the radical symbol when calculating a rational exponent. An example would be something like "X^(-1/5)". Currently, the outputs just show the variable with the fraction exponent but I'm trying to find a way of making it show the radical symbol instead.

Answer 1

I believe you can use SqrtBox. The documentation is pretty comprehensive about how to use it, so I'd start there: https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SqrtBox.html

Answer 2

Try the form TradionalForm around your expression.

https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TraditionalForm.html

Note: When Mathematica reads your input, it stores it internally in a format often unrelated to the input format. In this case, you want to read more on "Formatted Output".

https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/TextualInputAndOutput.html#12368