The Excel TAN Function

Related Functions:

Tangent of an Angle

For the simple right-angled triangle below, the tangent of the angle θ, is the ratio of the opposite side, o, to the adjacent side, a.

I.e. for the triangle above,

The trig. ratios are discussed further on the Wikipedia Trigonometric Ratios Page

Function Description

The Excel TAN function calculates the tangent of a given angle.

The syntax of the function is:

TAN( number )

Where the number argument is the angle, in radians, that you want to calculate the tangent of.

Converting from Radians to Degrees

If your angle is in degrees, you will need to convert it into radians before supplying it to the Tan function.

This can be done by using the Excel Radians function:

=RADIANS( degrees )

An example of this is given below.

The following spreadsheet shows the Excel Tan Function, used to calculate the tangent of four different angles.

Formulas:

Results:

Note that in the above examples:

In cell A3, the Excel Pi function is used to supply the value π/4;
In cell A4, the Excel Radians function is used to convert the angle of -45 degrees into radians before it is supplied to the Tan function.

For further information and examples of the Excel Tan function, see the Microsoft Office website.