The Excel IMSIN Function

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Related Function:

IMCOS Function

Sine of a Complex Number

The sine of a complex number is calculated by the following equation :

sin(x + yi) = sin(x) cosh(y) + cos(x) sinh(y)i

See Wikipedia for more information on complex numbers.

Basic Description

The Excel Imsin function returns the cosine of a supplied complex number.

The format of the function is:

IMSIN( inumber )

where the inumber argument is a complex number.

Note that complex numbers are simply stored as text in Excel. When a text string in the format "a+bi" or "a+bj" is supplied to one of Excel's built-in complex number functions, this is interpreted as a complex number.

Also the complex number functions can accept a simple numeric value, as this is equivalent to a complex number whose imaginary coefficient is equal to 0.

Therefore, the inumber argument can be supplied to the Excel Imsin function as either:

	-	A simple number
or
	-	A complex number encased in quotation marks - eg. "5+3i"
or
	-	A reference to a cell containing a complex number or a numeric value
or
	-	A value returned from another Excel function or formula

These are all included in the examples below.

Imsin Function Examples

The spreadsheet below shows 4 different examples of the Imsin function.

The format of the functions are shown in the spreadsheet on the left and the resulting values are shown in the spreadsheet on the right.

Formulas:

Examples of use of the Excel Imsin Function

Results:

Note that, in cell B1 of the above spreadsheet, the supplied inumber argument is the real number 0.5, which is equal to the complex number 0.5+0i.

Further information and examples of the Excel Imsin function can be found on the Microsoft Office website

Trouble Shooting

If you get an error from the Excel Imsin Function, this is likely to be one of the following:

Common Errors

#VALUE!

Occurs if the supplied inumber argument is not recognised as an imaginary or a real number

#NAME?

Occurs when Analysis ToolPak add-in is not enabled in your Excel.
You will need to enable the add-in if you want to use the Excel engineering functions.

To do this in Excel 2003 :

From the Tools drop-down menu, select the option Add-Ins ...
An 'Add-Ins' window will pop up. From this, select the option Analysis ToolPak and click OK

To do this in Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 :

Click the Microsoft button on the top left of your spreadsheet and select the Excel Options button
From the menu on the left hand side, select Add-Ins
In the 'Manage:' box, select Excel Add-ins and click Go...
An 'Add-Ins' window will pop up. From this, select the option Analysis ToolPak and click OK