Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Deriving a Secant and Cosecant.

Deriving a Secant and Cosecant

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 30, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Excel includes many built-in functions that allow you to use a wide range of trigonometric functions. Two that are not included, however, are functions for determining a secant and a cosecant. Let's assume that an angle value, in radians, is stored in cell B7. If you need to know the secant of the angle, you can use the following formula:

=1/COS(B7)

Likewise, if you need to know the cosecant of the angle, the following formula will do the trick:

=1/SIN(B7)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2455) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Deriving a Secant and Cosecant.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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