In trigonometry, there is a concept known as an inverse tangent. The inverse tangent is also known as the arctangent or arctan. Microsoft Excel has its own in-built ATAN and ATAN2 functions to calculate arctan. We will learn how to utilize these two functions in our Excel worksheets.
This Content Covers:
- What is Arctan?
- How to Determine Which Function We Should use to Calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
- What is ATAN Function?
- Syntax, Arguments and Purpose of ATAN Function
- How to use ATAN Function to Calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
- Calculate in Radians
- Calculate in Degrees
- Flaws in ATAN Function.
- What is ATAN2 Function?
- Syntax, Arguments and Purpose of ATAN2 Function
- How to use ATAN2 Function to calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
- Calculate in Radians
- Calculate in Degrees
1.What is Arctan?
Arctangent is the inverse function of the Tangent function and is often known as Arctan. This is a trigonometric function and is used to define values related to right triangles. We also utilize this to determine an object’s difficult-to-measure distance or height.
2. How to Determine Which Function We Should use to Calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
In Excel, there are two functions available for computing the inverse tangent or arctan. These are ATAN and ATAN2. The dilemma here is, which function we should use to calculate ARCTAN in Excel. Keep in mind a few fundamental instructions before using any of these two functions to calculate ARCTAN.
Use ATAN When:
- The x- and y-values are unknown to you.
- You only want to get the first quadrant of the unit circle.
Use ATAN2 When:
- The x- and y-values are known to you.
- All four quadrants of the unit circle’s angles should be returned.
3. What is ATAN Function?
ATAN is an in-built Excel function that is used to calculate the arctangent of a number in radians, in the range Of – π /2 to π /2 or in other words, in the first and fourth quadrants. This is an opposite function of TAN function.
4. Syntax, Arguments and Purpose of ATAN Function
Syntax: =ATAN(number)
Purpose: The purpose of ATAN function is to get the arctangent of a given number.
Arguments: The ATAN function has only one argument,
number- The value to get the inverse tangent of.
5. How to use ATAN Function to Calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
If we are only interested in the result that falls between the first and fourth quadrants, we can calculate ARCTAN using Excel’s ATAN function. Now we will see how we can use the ATAN function to calculate arctan in Excel. Let’s say we want to know the arctan of these inputs from the below picture. We can get the results both in radians format and in degree format.
5.1 Calculate in Radians
Step 1: Select cell B3 and insert the ATAN formula inside this cell.
Step 2: Press Enter key to get the result. The result here is in radians format.
Step 3: Drag the fill-handle down to get the complete results of these inputs.
5.2 Calculate in Degrees
Step 1: To get the result in degrees format we will use the DEGREES function with ATAN function. Select C3 and incorporate the formula from the following picture in that cell. Press Enter key and C3 cell will provide you with the result in degrees format.
Step 2: To get the full results of these inputs in degree format, drag the fill-handle downwards.
6. Flaws in ATAN Function.
- Because the ATAN function has only one argument/input number, if the input number is positive the function can’t determine if the result should be in the first quadrant or the third quadrant.
- And if the input number is negative, it can’t decide if the result should be in the second or fourth quadrant. So, it uses the fourth quadrant as default in this instance.
7. What is ATAN2 Function?
ATAN2 is also an in-built Excel function to calculate arctan. This can be considered the upgraded version of ATAN function. The ATAN function had some limitations due to using only a single argument. This function returns a result between -π and π radians or between -180 and 180 degrees using all four quadrants.
8. Syntax, Arguments and Purpose of ATAN2 Function
Syntax: =ATAN2(x_num, y_num)
Purpose: The purpose of ATAN2 function is to get arctangent from x- and y-coordinates.
Arguments: There are two arguments in ATAN2 function,
x_num- The input point’s x coordinate.
y_num- The input point’s y coordinate.
9. How to use ATAN2 Function to calculate ARCTAN in Excel?
In the following picture, we have both the x and y values. Now we will learn how to use the ATAN2 function to calculate arctan for these values in both radians and degrees format.
9.1 Calculate in Radians
Step 1: Select cell C3 and insert the ATAN2 formula shown in the picture.
Step 2: Press Enter key and the result will be provided in radians format in C3.
Step 3: Drag the fill-handle of C3 down to C9 to apply the formula in those cells too.
9.2 Calculate in Degrees
Step 1: Insert the formula shown in the below given picture in cell D3 and press Enter key. The result is shown in degree format here because we used DEGREE function with ATAN2 function.
Step 2: Drag D3 down to D9 to see the results for all the x and y inputs.
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