Frustrating excel problem with COS

  • Thread starter Thread starter tommy060289
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Cos Excel
AI Thread Summary
Excel calculates trigonometric functions like COS using radians by default, which can lead to incorrect results if angles are input in degrees. To resolve this, users can convert degrees to radians using the RADIANS() function, allowing for accurate calculations. For example, using COS(RADIANS(angle_in_degrees)) will yield the correct cosine value for degrees. Additionally, the DEGREES() function can convert radians back to degrees if needed. This method is particularly useful for users handling large datasets, as it avoids the need for manual adjustments to each calculation.
tommy060289
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Dear all,

I am currently using excel to work out some values for incident solar radiation but I am running into a rather frustrating problem when I try to do the following:

=COS(9.863)

my calculator tells me correctly this is 0.985.

however, when I put this in excel it decides it actually equals 0.905, which is obviously wrong.

I've gathered this is an issue with excel giving the answer in Rads rather than degrees but I can not figure out how you force excel to output the correct answer (in degrees) and since I have thousands of calculations it isn't feasible for me to alter every one manually.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
No worries, figured I can get it to change by adding:

*(Pi()/180) on the end
 
You can also use the RADIANS() function: COS(RADIANS(angle_in_degrees)).

And if you ever need to go the other way, there's a DEGREES() function: DEGREES(ACOS(x)).
 
tommy060289 said:
I've gathered this is an issue with excel giving the answer in Rads rather than degrees but I can not figure out how you force excel to output the correct answer (in degrees) and since I have thousands of calculations it isn't feasible for me to alter every one manually.
Just to clarify, hopefully you realize the output result of =cos(9.863) is not in radians, it is the input number 9.863 that Excel assumes is in radians.

jtbell said:
You can also use the RADIANS() function: COS(RADIANS(angle_in_degrees)).

And if you ever need to go the other way, there's a DEGREES() function: DEGREES(ACOS(x)).
I didn't know that, thanks for the tip!
 
Thread 'Urgent: Physically repair - or bypass - power button on Asus laptop'
Asus Vivobook S14 flip. The power button is wrecked. Unable to turn it on AT ALL. We can get into how and why it got wrecked later, but suffice to say a kitchen knife was involved: These buttons do want to NOT come off, not like other lappies, where they can snap in and out. And they sure don't go back on. So, in the absence of a longer-term solution that might involve a replacement, is there any way I can activate the power button, like with a paperclip or wire or something? It looks...
I came across a video regarding the use of AI/ML to work through complex datasets to determine complicated protein structures. It is a promising and beneficial use of AI/ML. AlphaFold - The Most Useful Thing AI Has Ever Done https://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/courses/alphafold/an-introductory-guide-to-its-strengths-and-limitations/what-is-alphafold/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaFold https://deepmind.google/about/ Edit/update: The AlphaFold article in Nature John Jumper...
Back
Top