FormulaCraft

COS

COS returns the cosine of an angle measured in radians, producing a value between -1 and 1. Like SIN, it requires radian input, so use =COS(RADIANS(angle)) when working with degrees. It appears in geometry, physics, and signal processing.

Excel
=COS(RADIANS(A2))
Google Sheets
=COS(RADIANS(A2))
✓

Verified example

Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.

Angle (degrees)Cosine
0
60
90
180

=COS(RADIANS(A2))→1

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How it works

  1. 1A2 contains the angle in degrees (e.g. 60).
  2. 2RADIANS(A2) converts the degree value to radians.
  3. 3COS(RADIANS(60)) = 0.5 because the cosine of 60° is exactly 0.5.

Need a version for your data?

Try: “Calculate the cosine of each angle in my degree column”

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Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.

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