Receivables, net (Details Textual) - Customer	Dec. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Receivables and Allowances for Doubtful Accounts (Textual) [Abstract]
Number of customers with receivables balance greater than ten percent of total balance	1	0
Percent of receivables attributable to single customer		10.00%

Number of customers with accounts receivable and installment contract receivable balance greater than ten percent of total balance.

No definition available.

Name:	cdns_NumberOfCustomersWithAccountsReceivableAndInstallmentContractReceivableBalanceGreaterThanTenPercentOfBalance
Namespace Prefix:	cdns_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant