Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025
math.cos() function in Python is part of the built-in math module, which provides access to mathematical functions. The math.cos() function is used to calculate the cosine of an angle, which is a fundamental trigonometric function widely used in various fields like physics, engineering and computer graphics.
Example: Cosine Calculation Using math.cos()
Python
import math
a = math.pi / 6 # angle pi/6 radians
# returning the value of cosine of pi / 6
print("The value of cosine of pi / 6 is : ", end="")
print(math.cos(a))
The value of cosine of pi / 6 is : 0.8660254037844387
Explanation:
Parametersmath.cos(x)
The math.cos() function returns the cosine of the given angle in radians. The value will always be between -1 and 1, inclusive.
Examples of math.cos() 1. Cosine of Multiple AnglesThis example calculates the cosine of several angles ranging from 0 to 2π (full circle) in steps of π/4.
Python
import math
# Angles from 0 to 2π in steps of π/4
angles = [0, math.pi/4, math.pi/2, math.pi, 3*math.pi/2, 2*math.pi]
# Calculate and print the cosine for each angle
for angle in angles:
print(f"Cosine of {angle} radians: {math.cos(angle)}")
Output
Cosine of 0 radians: 1.0
Cosine of 0.7853981633974483 radians: 0.7071067811865476
Cosine of 1.5707963267948966 radians: 6.123233995736766e-17
Cosine of 3.141592653589793 radians: -1.0Cosine of 4.71238898038469 radians: -1.8369701987210297e-16
Cosine of 6.283185307179586 radians: 1.0
Explanation:
import math
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Generate angles from -2π to 2π
in_array = np.linspace(-(2 * np.pi), 2 * np.pi, 20) # Generate angles from -2π to 2π
# List to store cosine values
out_array = []
for i in range(len(in_array)):
out_array.append(math.cos(in_array[i]))
print("in_array : ", in_array)
print("\nout_array : ", out_array)
# Plot the graph for cosine values
plt.plot(in_array, out_array, color='red', marker="o")
plt.title("math.cos()")
plt.xlabel("X")
plt.ylabel("Y")
plt.show()
Output
in_array : [-6.28318531 -5.62179738 -4.96040945 -4.29902153 -3.6376336 -2.97624567
-2.31485774 -1.65346982 -0.99208189 -0.33069396 0.33069396 0.99208189
1.65346982 2.31485774 2.97624567 3.6376336 4.29902153 4.96040945
5.62179738 6.28318531]out_array : [1.0, 0.7891405093963934, 0.2454854871407988, -0.40169542465296987,
-0.8794737512064891, -0.9863613034027223, 0.6772815716257412,
-0.08257934547233249, 0.5469481581224268, 0.9458172417006346,
0.9458172417006346, 0.5469481581224268, 0.0825793454723316, -0.6772815716257405,
-0.9863613034027223, -0.8794737512064893, -0.40169542465296987,
0.2454854871407988, .7891405093963934, 1.0]
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