"JmcD" wrote in message
...
nothing

PLEASE write your question in the body of the post and NOT just the subject
as it gets truncated like yours has

Have a look he http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

You can use the ATAN function. Note that all trig functions in Excel work
with Radians, not Degrees. Thus, you may need to use the RADIANS function to
convert degrees to radians or DEGREES to convert radians to degrees. E.g.,

=DEGREES(ATAN(A1))

returns the number of degrees of the angle whose tangent is in cell A1.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email on web site)




"JmcD" wrote in message
...

Years later I try to test a math equation using the historically defined ARCTAN using MS Excel and find that good old Microsoft decides that they can redefine math to match their own lame definition.

Wake up, lame programmers at MS...the ARCTAN should return the angle in degrees! As does the TAN return the ratio based on degrees. How hard is it to just provide those two functions without creating your own bias towards radians? Converting to radians should be the added work of the user.

Let me guess....the use of degrees must have some licensing cost which MS is not willing to pay in order to push out a cheaper spreadsheet?

MS is losing market share and profitability. Duh.... not a surprise to the more educated users.



On Wednesday, April 23, 2008 8:17:56 AM UTC-7, Chip Pearson wrote:
You can use the ATAN function. Note that all trig functions in Excel work
with Radians, not Degrees. Thus, you may need to use the RADIANS function to
convert degrees to radians or DEGREES to convert radians to degrees. E.g.,

=DEGREES(ATAN(A1))

returns the number of degrees of the angle whose tangent is in cell A1.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email on web site)




"JmcD" wrote in message
...




On Wednesday, April 23, 2008 8:17:56 AM UTC-7, Chip Pearson wrote:
You can use the ATAN function. Note that all trig functions in Excel work
with Radians, not Degrees. Thus, you may need to use the RADIANS function to
convert degrees to radians or DEGREES to convert radians to degrees. E.g.,

=DEGREES(ATAN(A1))

returns the number of degrees of the angle whose tangent is in cell A1.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

wrote:
the ARCTAN should return the angle in degrees!
As does the TAN return the ratio based on degrees.

You are entitled to your opinion. But it would be nice if it were an
informed opinion.

In Excel, the argument to the TAN function is in radians, not degrees.

Here is the relevant information from the help page:

TAN(number)
Number is the angle in __radians__ for which you want the tangent.