Applications of cubic in number theory? The solution of the cubic equation is known in terms of a rational function of a cube root of a square root. If we just want to know the value it's easy to approximate it using a numerical method. I would like to know if the actual form (in terms of roots) of the solution of the cubic has any applications in number theory?
 A: Solving equations numerically is usually good enough for engineers, say, and they probably don't need the explicit formula very often. Pure mathematicians are usually more interested in understanding how things work rather than computing specific numbers.
There is a lot of information about solutions of a cubic that you cannot read off from approximate solutions. The most obvious such property is their field of definition. E.g. you cannot tell whether a cubic has solutions over the rationals by looking at approximations. Finding rational and integral solutions to polynomial equations is actually a huge part of what algebraic number theory is about in the first place. This area is called the theory of Diophantine equations and goes back to Diophantus of Alexandria, almost 2000 years back. It is usually not thought of as a means to an end, but a goal in its own right, since it is ultimately a question about how natural and rational numbers behave. The latter are some of the most immediate mathematical entities and our desire to understand them is just a manifestation of our curiosity.
To understand Diophantine equations, one often needs to understand not just the field of rational numbers, but more general number fields. So, we are not only interested in whether or not a cubic has a rational solution, but we want to know exactly the field of definition of these solutions, and for that, an algebraic expression for its roots is very handy.
This was a long way of saying that you shouldn't think of the algebraic formula
for the roots of a cubic as a means to an end, but rather as an accomplishment
on the way to a more general aim: solving Diophantine equations and understanding how integers and the rational numbers work. This more
general aim is pursued by number theorists because they find it exciting,
not because it has applications.
A: There are probably more interesting and diverse answers, but one immediate application to Galois theory/algebraic number theory is that knowing the solution of the general cubic equation $x^3+ax^2+bx+c=0$ (where the cubic is irreducible over the rationals) allows us to compute the Galois group of a cubic.  In particular, the discriminant $D=18abc+a^2b^2−4b^3−4a^3c−27c^2$, which appears under the square root that you mentioned, completely determines the Galois group.  In general, the splitting field for the cubic is $K=\mathbb{Q}(r, \sqrt{D})$, where $r$ is any one root of the cubic.  If $\sqrt{D}$ rational, then the Galois group is isomorphic to $A_3$.  Otherwise, the Galois group is isomorphic to $S_3$. 
EDIT: As Qiaochu pointed out, the solution of the cubic is better viewed as an application of Galois theory than the other way around. In general, the particulars of solving polynomial equations (for example, what the solutions look like, i.e. whether we can get them by adjoining roots, etc.) is a motivating problem for a branch of algebra/number theory, and Galois theory provides information with regard to these things. There are a few reasons why the problem of understanding solutions of polynomial equations is interesting.  One of them is that this is one of the simplest interesting questions that we can ask in number theory.  Another is that polynomials tend to come up in a lot of places, so knowing about their solutions is useful to everyone, not just number theorists.  I know I haven't answered your question about applications of the solution of the cubic to number theory (no significant applications come to mind, but maybe there are some), but there is an interesting story here that is motivated by wanting to know about solving polynomial equations.  In particular, you might be interested to read about the insolvability of the general quintic by adjoining radicals and how this fits into the history of Galois theory.
A: This doesn't answer the question as stated but instead is a related result. 
Siegel's Theorem is an example of using the discriminant of the cubic equation in algebraic number theory. It states that a smooth algebraic curve $C$ of genus $g > 0$ defined over a number field $K$, written in a given coordinate system over affine space, contains only finitely many points with coordinates in the ring of integers of $K$. For example, the elliptic curve $y^{2} = x^{3} + a x + b$ with $a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}$ and $4 a^{3} + 27 b^{2} \neq 0$ has only finitely many solutions $x , y \in \mathbb{Z}$. 
This particular example can be better understood if one knows one solution of the reduced cubic, $x^{3} + p x = q$, which is
\begin{eqnarray}
x = \sqrt[3]{ \sqrt{D} + \frac{q}{2}} - \sqrt[3]{ \sqrt{D} - \frac{q}{2}},
\end{eqnarray}
where $D = \frac{q^{2}}{4} + \frac{p^{3}}{27}$ is the discriminant up to a constant factor (which we define as $\Delta$ below). More generally, the discriminant of the cubic $ax^{3} + bx^{2} + cx + d = 0$ is
\begin{eqnarray}
\Delta = b^{2} c^{2} - 4ac^{3} - 4 b^{3} d - 27 a^{2} d^{2} + 18 abcd.
\end{eqnarray}
There are ways to calculate the discriminant without solving the cubic, however. Note that if $\Delta = 0$, then the cubic has repeated roots. 
Considering the right side of the defining equation of elliptic curve $C$, we have
\begin{eqnarray}
\Delta(C) = - (4 a^{3} + 27 b^{2}),
\end{eqnarray}
which is up to sign the conditional factor above. A nice exercise is to think about what occurs (or is violated) in the case that the associated discriminant vanishes.
