tan
Units & Measurements abbreviation · Math
| Stands for | Tangent |
|---|---|
| Categories | Units & Measurements |
tan stands for Tangent, a math abbreviation.
Sine divided by cosine, or opposite over adjacent in a right triangle. Tangent turns an angle into a slope: a road with a 5 percent grade rises at an angle whose tan is 0.05.
Example: The tree is 20 m away and the angle of elevation is 35°, so its height is 20 tan 35° ≈ 14 m.
Usage notes
Tangent is undefined at 90° and 270°, where cosine is zero, so its graph has vertical asymptotes and repeats every 180°. The name comes from Latin tangens, "touching", because the value equals the length of a segment tangent to the unit circle. Some European texts write tg.
Related abbreviations
More math abbreviations
- sinh – Hyperbolic sine
- SOHCAHTOA – Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent =…
- sqrt – Square root
- SSS – Side-Side-Side (congruence)
- sup – Supremum
- SVD – Singular value decomposition
- tanh – Hyperbolic tangent
- TFAE – The following are equivalent
- Thm – Theorem
- tr – Trace
- trig – Trigonometry
- WLOG – Without loss of generality