For the simple right-angled triangle below, the sine of the angle θ, is the ratio of the opposite side, o, to the hypotenuse, h.
i.e. for the triangle above,
The Excel SIN function calculates the sine of a given angle (which is supplied in radians).
The format of the function is :
Where the number argument is the angle, in radians, that you want to calculate the sine 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 cos function.
Column B of the spreadsheet below, shows examples of the Excel Sin Function, used to calculate the sine of different angles, which are in either degrees or radians.
The formulas are shown in the spreadsheet on the left and the results are shown in the spreadsheet on the right.
Further information and examples of the Excel Sin function can be found on the Microsoft Office website.