excel concatenate with "²" or squared symbol - excel

Question

I would like to use a concatenate formula in Excel that also includes the superscript number 2 (squared symbol), but this does not work with the following input. The formula is roughly like this:
=CONCATENATE("13";"²")
i want to get an output like this:
13²
I tried using superscript functions on the font
but it didn't work when the text is inside the concatenation.
I have to use concatenate because I want to automate.
Is it possible to do with Excel 2019 there? or is it possible but would require VBA?

Answer 1

Try
=CONCATENATE("13";CHAR(178))

Answer 2

Using superscript digits via udf
Superscript digits ranging from 0 to 9 have code values in different unicode sections. Thus using the following user defined function (udf) allows you to get each digit from 0 to 9 as superscript character without the need to detect & memorize each code value again and again.
The hexadecimal and decimal codes are commented in the function below:
Function sup(ByVal digit As Long)
Dim n As Long
Select Case digit
Case 0: n = &H2070 ' dec 8304
Case 1: n = &HB9 ' dec 185
Case 2: n = &HB2 ' dec 178
Case 3: n = &HB3 ' dec 179
Case Else ' <super> 4 .. 9
n = &H2074 + digit - 4 ' dec 8308 .. 8313
End Select
sup = ChrW(n)
End Function
Some examples (~~> output x³)
="x" & sup(3)
=CONCAT("x",sup(3))
=CONCAT("x",sup(Sheet1!A2)) ' assuming a digit value of 3 in Sheet1!A2
or within VBA assignments like e.g.
Sub ExampleCall()
Dim i As Long
For i = 0 To 9
Sheet1.Range("A2").Offset(i).Value = "x" & sup(i)
Next
End Sub

Answer 3

I also found a way to make this work without using concatenate, it just requires making a table to map to superscript numbers.
Step 1: Characters Table
Somewhere else, build a simple table with a map from "Digit" numbers to "Superscript" numbers.
In the first column, "Digit", just type something like:
-9
-8
-7
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
In the second column, "Superscript", go to Excel Ribbon Insert > Symbol. In the tab "Symbol", change the comboboxes "Font" to "(normal text)" and "Subset" to "Superscripts and Subscripts". Insert now each character in its corresponding cell be sure to use "Superscript Minus" for negative numbers. Superscripts 1, 2 and 3 are located in the subset "Latin-1 Supplement".
-9 ⁻⁹
-8 ⁻⁸
-7 ⁻⁷
-6 ⁻⁶
-5 ⁻⁵
-4 ⁻⁴
-3 ⁻³
-2 ⁻²
-1 ⁻¹
0 ⁰
1 ¹
2 ²
3 ³
4 ⁴
5 ⁵
6 ⁶
7 ⁷
8 ⁸
9 ⁹
And so on. Please notice that these are not "formatted" numbers, but special symbols with no numeric value.
Step 2: Vlook Function
Put the digit you want displayed normally in a column, set up like it is in 'A1' below, i.e.:
Cell A1: 13
Then, put the number you want to be displayed in superscript format, i.e.:
Cell B1: 3
Then, use this function to create the final output.
Cell C1: =A1&VLOOKUP(B1,Sheet2!$A$1:$B$20,2,FALSE)