How to use the Excel TAN function

Learn How to Use the TAN Function in Excel

Read time: 20 minutes

We can find the TANGENT of an angle by using the TAN function and the RADIANS function. This can also be done by using the TAN and PI function.

Figure 1: Result of the TAN function for 30, 45, and 60 degrees

Using the TAN and RADIANS function

The TAN function returns the tangent of an angle that is in RADIANS. Hence, for us to use the TAN function here, we must first convert the angle to RADIANS.

Syntax

=TAN(RADIANS(ANGLE))

Setting up the Data

We will find the tangent of the following angles by using the TAN function; 30, 45 and 60 degrees.

We will place the angles in Column A
Our formula will be placed in Column B to display the result

Figure 2: How to use the TAN function

The Result

We will input the formula below into Cell B4:

=TAN(RADIANS(A4))

Figure 3: How to use the TAN function

We will now press ENTER to obtain the result

Figure 4: Result of the TAN function using Radians

We will use the drop-down feature to get the results for 45 and 60 degrees

Figure 5: Result of the TAN function for 30, 45, and 60 degrees

Using the PI function

We can also use the PI function to tackle this. The formula with the PI function is given below:

=TAN(A4*PI()/180)

Figure 6: Using the PI function for 30 degrees

As done before, we will use the drop-down arrow to get the result for 45 and 60 degrees.

Figure 7: Result of the TAN function with the PI function for 30, 45, and 60 degrees

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