Cos 50 Degrees

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

What is cos 50°?

Answer

cos 50° ≈
0.6428

Angle in radians: 50° = 5π/18. The point of the angle is in quadrant I, where cosine is positive.

≈ — rounded to 4 decimal places. cos 50° can't be written with square roots: 50° is not a multiple of 3°.

P(cos 50°, sin 50°) ≈ (0.6428, 0.7660)

xyOP

P(cos 50°, sin 50°) ≈ (0.6428, 0.7660)

Highlighted: the projection on the x-axis — cosine, x ≈ 0.6428.

All four functions of 50°
FunctionExact valueDecimal
sin 50°—≈ 0.7660
cos 50°—≈ 0.6428
tan 50°—≈ 1.1918
cot 50°—≈ 0.8391

See Also

FAQ

What is cos 50°?

cos 50° ≈ 0.6428

Why does cos 50° 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°. 50° is not, so no such exact form exists; the value is used as a decimal: cos 50° ≈ 0.6428.

Why does a calculator show 0.9650 for cos 50?

The calculator is in radian mode (RAD): it takes cos 50 as the cosine of 50 radians, cos 50 rad ≈ 0.9650. Switch it to degrees (DEG): cos 50° ≈ 0.6428. In radians the value is never undefined: π is irrational, so a whole number of radians never lands exactly on an axis.