Transform Your Excel Game: Master The Art of Converting Angles From Degrees to Radians Effortlessly!

Excel is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. However, if you work with mathematical data, chances are you’ve come across the need to convert angles from degrees to radians or vice versa. Converting angles from degrees to radians can be challenging, but it’s an essential skill to master if you’re working with mathematical data. Fortunately, Excel provides a range of built-in functions to help you convert angles from degrees to radians with ease. In this article, we’ll show you how to master the art of converting angles from degrees to radians quickly and efficiently.

Understanding Angles in Excel

Before we dive into how to convert angles from degrees to radians, it’s essential to understand what angles are and how Excel handles them. An angle is a measure of the amount of turn between two lines. In mathematical terms, angles are measured in degrees or radians. One complete circle is divided into 360 degrees, which makes up a full rotation. This means that a right angle is 90 degrees, and a straight angle is 180 degrees.

Excel uses radians as the default unit for angles, which means that most of its built-in functions assume that values entered as angles are in radians. However, Excel also provides functions for converting values between degrees and radians.

Converting Angles From Degrees to Radians

Excel provides a built-in function called RADIANS that converts degrees into radians. To use the RADIANS function, follow these steps:

  1. Enter the angle in degrees into a cell in your worksheet.
  2. In another cell, enter the formula “=RADIANS(angle)”. Replace the “angle” with the cell reference of the angle in degrees.
  3. Excel will automatically convert the angle from degrees to radians.

For example, let’s say you have an angle of 45 degrees that you want to convert to radians. Here’s how you would use the RADIANS function in Excel:

  1. Enter 45 in cell A1.
  2. In cell B1, enter “=RADIANS(A1)”.
  3. Excel will display the result as 0.785398.

Converting Angles From Radians to Degrees

Excel also provides a built-in function called DEGREES that converts radians into degrees. To use the DEGREES function, follow these steps:

  1. Enter the angle in radians into a cell in your worksheet.
  2. In another cell, enter the formula “=DEGREES(angle)”. Replace the “angle” with the cell reference of the angle in radians.
  3. Excel will automatically convert the angle from radians to degrees.

Let’s say you have an angle of 1.5 radians that you want to convert to degrees. Here’s how you would use the DEGREES function in Excel:

  1. Enter 1.5 in cell A1.
  2. In cell B1, enter “=DEGREES(A1)”.
  3. Excel will display the result as 85.94367.

In Conclusion

Converting angles from degrees to radians and vice versa is a crucial skill to master when working with mathematical data in Excel. Thankfully, Excel provides a range of built-in functions that make it easy to convert angles from one unit to another. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can become proficient in converting angles from degrees to radians quickly and efficiently. Try it out, and you’ll see how quickly you can transform your Excel game!

This article explains how to convert degrees to radians in Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and Excel for Microsoft 365.

What to Know

  • Use the syntax for the RADIANS function, which is =RADIANS(Angle), to convert degrees to radians.To use the Function Box/Formula Builder, select where you want the answer to appear, then go to Formulas > Math & Trig > RADIANS.Or, multiply the angle by the PI() function and then divide the result by 180 to get the angle in radians (for example, 45*PI()/180).

Excel RADIANS Function Example

This example uses the RADIANS function to convert a 45-degree angle to radians. The information covers the steps used to enter the RADIANS function into cell B2 of the example worksheet.

Options for entering the function include:

  • Typing the complete function into cell B2, as shown in cell C3 above.Selecting the function and its arguments using the Function Dialog box.

Although it is possible to enter the complete function manually, many people find it easier to use the Function dialog box, as it takes care of inputting the function’s syntax such as brackets and comma separators between arguments.

Using the Function Box (Formula Builder on Mac) for RADIANS

  • Click on cell B2 in the worksheet — this is where the function will go.
  • Click on the Formulas tab of the ribbon menu.
  • Choose Math & Trig from the ribbon to open the function drop-down list.
  • Click on RADIANS in the list to bring up the Function Dialog Box.
  • Click on the Angle line.
  • Click on Cell A2 in the worksheet to enter the cell reference as the function’s argument.
  • Click Done to complete the function — the answer 0.785398163, which is 45-degrees expressed in radians, appears in cell B2.
  • If your worksheet shows fewer numbers to the right of the decimal point, you can format the cell to display more.

Using PI() Function to Get the Angle in Radians

An alternative, as shown in cell C4 of the example image, is to multiply the angle by the PI() function and then divide the result by 180 to get the angle in radians.

Click on cell B2 in the worksheet — this is where the function will go.

Click on the Formulas tab of the ribbon menu.

Choose Math & Trig from the ribbon to open the function drop-down list.

Click on RADIANS in the list to bring up the Function Dialog Box.

Click on the Angle line.

Click on Cell A2 in the worksheet to enter the cell reference as the function’s argument.

Click Done to complete the function — the answer 0.785398163, which is 45-degrees expressed in radians, appears in cell B2.

If your worksheet shows fewer numbers to the right of the decimal point, you can format the cell to display more.

You can input data directly into the dialog box rather than cell references, but that makes it harder to update formulas and functions.

It looks like this:

=A2*PI()/180

Why Use the Excel RADIANS Function?

Excel has built-in trigonometric functions that make it easy to find the cosine, sine, and tangent of a right-angle triangle — a triangle containing an angle equal to 90 degrees.

The only problem is that these functions require angles expressed in radians, not degrees. While radians, a unit of angles, are a legitimate way of measuring angles based on the radius of a circle, they are not something most people work with on a regular basis.

To help the average spreadsheet user get around this problem, Excel has the RADIANS function, which makes it easy to convert degrees to radians.

RADIANS Function Syntax and Arguments

A function’s syntax refers to the layout of the function and includes the function’s name, brackets, and arguments. The syntax for the RADIANS function is:

=RADIANS(Angle)

The Angle argument is the angle in degrees you want to convert to radians; it can be entered as degrees or as a cell reference to the location of this data in your Excel worksheet.

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