SIN Function in Excel: Sine of an Angle

SIN Function in Excel: Sine of an Angle featured illustration

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⏱ 2 min readUpdated 5 October 2026

MathLevel: IntermediateAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. SIN in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

SIN expects radians. Wrap degrees in RADIANS().

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Syntax

=SIN(number)
Argument What it means
number Angle in radians.

Examples

Example 1

=B2*SIN(RADIANS(C2))

Height of a ramp from its length and angle.

SIN in practice

Where you will use it

  • Vertical component of a force
  • Wave and seasonality models
  • Geometry

Worked example

DegreesFormulaResult
30=ROUND(SIN(RADIANS(A2)),4)0.5
90=ROUND(SIN(RADIANS(A3)),4)1
180=ROUND(SIN(RADIANS(A4)),4)0

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Degrees instead of radiansWrap in RADIANS
1.2E-16 instead of 0Round the result

COS · RADIANS

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Math & rounding24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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