Excel returning incorrect result with trig problems
3 replies, posted
Firstly, yes I am using radians to input the problem. I am aware many people have trouble with this, so much trouble in fact I've had no luck searching for an answer on google because I get a bazillion results like that.
So when I enter the exact same equation into Wolfram Alpha I'm having trouble with it produces a result exactly the same as I got from my experimental part of this uni prac. That doesn't help me because I'm supposed to be graphing the result and require about 500 datapoints to work off.
The exact formula I'm entering:
=SIN((0.3/1.425)*SIN(B9))^-1
Where B* is the angle in radians at that moment. The formula is some simple trig for calculating the angle of a piston crank arm (such as in an engine) at some angle.
I've tried variations including =1/SIN((0.3/1.425)*SIN(B9)) and =CSC((0.3/1.425)*SIN(B9)). I have no clue why it's producing such a retarded result. I'm not exactly unfamiliar with inputing physics and engineering questions into Excel either.
I feel like you aren't providing the whole picture here, because I tried your excel formula with Wolfram Alpha and I get the same result as your excel sheet. I'm not familiar with this problem at all, but by any chance, does this produce a better result?
=ASIN((0.3/1.425)*SIN(B9))
Since you've seen fit to rate me dumb without explanation or elaboration, allow me to explain my thought process. While I'm not
familiar with your specific problem, I do know a thing or two about trigonometry, and feeding the output of a Sine function into the input
of another Sine function seems completely wrong to me. So, the likely scenario is that you made an error while converting your formula into a
computer-friendly format. Given the exponent you used, it seems likely that you INTENDED to use an inverse Sine function, and the formula I
provided above does exactly that. In the computing world, inverse Sine is more commonly known as ArcSine, or ASIN in excel and most programming languages.
If this isn't what you were looking for, maybe you should provide the original formula that you based your excel formula on, or perhaps a link to what you believe is the "correct" formula in wolfram alpha. Rating dumb and not replying won't help you.
You're going to need to elaborate on this. What is the relationship of the piston crank arm angle and the input angle? Does the output angle change at a rate of (0.3 / 1.425) to the input angle? If so, you want this:
ASIN( SIN( (0.3 / 1.425) * BX ) )
As I understand it, you are trying to (1) get the sin(x) of your input angle, (2) transforming it in some way, and (3) converting it back into an angle using the sin(x)^-1 or arcsin(x) function. However, your current implementation of arcsin is incorrect.
sin(x)^-1 is sometimes used as a shorthand for arcsin(x) and means the inverse function of sin(x), and is NOT the same as the literal definition of sin(x)^-1, which means 1/sin(x).
You can also see the result of this in your current table. When the input angle is 0 , your current function essentially does SIN ( SIN ( 0 ) ), which equals 0, then inverses it, giving you the DIV/0 error. Angles approaching 0 will give you unusually larger and larger numbers.
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