Cos 31 Degrees

Sin, Cos, Tan, Cot of an Angle
Function
Angle (°)

What is cos 31°?

Answer

cos 31° ≈
0.8572

Angle in radians: 31° = 31π/180. The point of the angle is in quadrant I, where cosine is positive.

≈ — rounded to 4 decimal places. cos 31° can't be written with square roots: 31° is not a multiple of 3°.

P(cos 31°, sin 31°) ≈ (0.8572, 0.5150)

xyOP

P(cos 31°, sin 31°) ≈ (0.8572, 0.5150)

Highlighted: the projection on the x-axis — cosine, x ≈ 0.8572.

All four functions of 31°
FunctionExact valueDecimal
sin 31°—≈ 0.5150
cos 31°—≈ 0.8572
tan 31°—≈ 0.6009
cot 31°—≈ 1.6643

See Also

FAQ

What is cos 31°?

cos 31° ≈ 0.8572

Why does cos 31° have no exact value?

A trigonometric value of a whole number of degrees can be written with square roots only when the angle is a multiple of 3°. 31° is not, so no such exact form exists; the value is used as a decimal: cos 31° ≈ 0.8572.

Why does a calculator show 0.9147 for cos 31?

The calculator is in radian mode (RAD): it takes cos 31 as the cosine of 31 radians, cos 31 rad ≈ 0.9147. Switch it to degrees (DEG): cos 31° ≈ 0.8572. In radians the value is never undefined: π is irrational, so a whole number of radians never lands exactly on an axis.