Next message: Frank Reed: "Re: A few new questions"
Guy S, you wrote:
"When using the Casio fx 260 calculator and converting the angle 58 deg 41
min 18 sec to sin it gives me .854353027. In excel if I take 58 + 41/60 +
18/3600 and sum that it is
58.68833333333
Using the sin function on that sum I get 0.84251063010 Why the difference?"
The casio fx260 is correct. You may not have realized that spreadsheet trig
functions generally require their arguments in radians. This means you have to
take your angle and divide by 180/pi, which is approximately equal to
57.29577951. In Excel, but not necessarily other spreadsheet software, there is a
simple function that will do this for you. Let's suppose cell A1 contains an
angle in degrees. If you want the sine of that in cell A2, enter the formula
=SIN(RADIANS(A1)). There is a corresponding DEGREES function to convert
angles in radians into degrees.
The fact that your two calculations --fx260 vs spreadsheet with wrong
formula-- gave such similar answers is a freak accident in this case. For that
angle, they just happen to be close.
You asked:
"Does anyone know of a desktop version (adult size version) of the Casio fx
260 or equivalent calculator? I like the sexagesimal functions and would like
larger input keys."
I don't know of a machine like that, but have you looked at the calculator
program in Windows? If you click on the View menu, you can turn it into a
scientific calculator with the usual trig capabilities. There are plenty of
keyboard shortcuts. For example, if you type "45" then "s" you get the sine of 45
degrees. Or "o" gives the cosine. The keyboard shortcuts are in the Help
menu, but you'll have to dig around.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
