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I get unexpected results when using the trigonometric functions on my Android 4.4.2 phone.

For example, if I enter sin(30)= I get the result -0.9880316 when I expect the result 0.5. It appears the phone expects trigonometric numbers to be expressed in radians rather than degrees which is uncommon - the phone's manual certainly did not mention it. Most calculators work in degrees. Decent calculators have a deg/rad/grad switch.

Is there a way to do this on the phone or am I forced to include a degrees-to-radians conversion in all my trig calculations?

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This is a known feature / bug, depending on how you look at it. It is even there in Lollipop and supposed to have been fixed in Marshmallow_bug report. It is supposed to have the deg/rad switch. (Edit: Thanks to benjaminS for confirming that Marshmallow incorporates this). Couple of ways you can get around it:

  • Store the conversion value of ( pi/ 180) and multiply by value to convert into radians- very tedious

  • Use alternative from Play Store from reviews like this

  • Upgrade to Marshmallow if this is important for you. Calculator has additional features with screen shots, Thanks to benjaminS again for pointing this out. :)

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    I can confirm that there is the option to switch between DEG/RAD in the stock calculator app on Marshmallow. :)
    – benjamin
    May 3, 2016 at 8:33
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    You can link to this article from androidpolice - there are screenshots available which show the difference and the added options quite well
    – benjamin
    May 3, 2016 at 9:10

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