Python math.atan2() – Arc / Inverse Tangent of (y / x)

Python math.atan2()

math.atan2() function takes two arguments: x, y; and returns the inverse tangent of (y / x).

The return value is angle in radians.

Syntax

The syntax to call atan2() function is

math.atan2(y, x)

where

Examples

In the following example, we find the inverse tangent for the arguments: y=10, x=3; using atan2() function of math module.

import math

y = 10
x = 3
result = math.atan2(y, x)
print('atan2(y, x) :', result, 'radians')

Output

atan2(y, x) : 1.2793395323170296 radians

We can convert the returned radians into degrees using math.degrees() function.

In the following example, we find the inverse tangent for the arguments: y=10, x=3; using atan2() function and convert this returned radians to degrees.

import math

y = 10
x = 3
result = math.atan2(y, x)
result = math.degrees(result)
print('atan2(y, x) :', result, 'degrees')

Output

atan2(y, x) : 73.30075576600639 degrees

Let us take the value of infinity for y, and find the value of atan2(y, x).

import math

y = math.inf
x = 3
result = math.atan2(y, x)
result = math.degrees(result)
print('atan2(y, x) :', result, 'degrees')

Output

atan2(y, x) : 90.0 degrees

Summary

In this Python Examples tutorial, we learned the syntax of, and examples for math.atan2() function.