{"id":995,"date":"2016-07-19T09:03:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T09:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sqltutorial.org\/?page_id=995"},"modified":"2025-03-16T20:14:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T03:14:29","slug":"sql-acos","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/sql-math-functions\/sql-acos\/","title":{"rendered":"SQL ACOS Function"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The SQL <code>ACOS<\/code> function calculates the arc cosine of a numeric expression that evaluates a float value between -1 and 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In math, the <code>arccosine(x)<\/code> is defined as the inverse <code>cosine(x)<\/code> when <code>-1\u2264x\u22641<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='syntax'>Syntax <a href=\"#syntax\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"syntax\" title=\"Anchor for Syntax\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following shows the syntax of the <code>ACOS<\/code> function.<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-1\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\">ACOS(numeric_expression)<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-1\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='argument'>Argument <a href=\"#argument\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"argument\" title=\"Anchor for Argument\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>ACOS<\/code> function accepts a <code>numeric_expression<\/code> that evaluates to a float value in the range -1 and 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='return-type'>Return Type <a href=\"#return-type\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"return-type\" title=\"Anchor for Return Type\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>ACOS<\/code> function returns a floating-point number in radians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='examples'>Examples <a href=\"#examples\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"examples\" title=\"Anchor for Examples\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following example returns the arc cosine of 0.5<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-2\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">SELECT<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">ACOS<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-number\">0.5<\/span>);<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-2\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/playground\/?q=U0VMRUNUIEFDT1MoMC41KTs%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try it<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Output:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-3\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\">      acos\n<span class=\"hljs-comment\">-----------------<\/span>\n 1.0471975511966\n(1 row)<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-3\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>To see the degrees value, you use the <code>DEGREES<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-4\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">SELECT<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">DEGREES<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">ACOS<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-number\">0.5<\/span>));<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-4\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/playground\/?q=U0VMRUNUIERFR1JFRVMoQUNPUygwLjUpKTs%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try it<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Output:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-5\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\"> degrees\n<span class=\"hljs-comment\">---------<\/span>\n      60\n(1 row)\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-5\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>Most database systems support the <code>ACOS<\/code> function with the same behavior.<\/p>\n<div class=\"helpful-block-content\" data-title=\"\">\n\t<header>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-question\">Was this tutorial helpful ?<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-thumbs\">\n\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\tdata-post=\"995\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/sql-math-functions\/sql-acos\/\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-title=\"SQL 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ACOS function calculates the arc cosine of a numeric expression that evaluates a float value between -1 and 1. In math, the arccosine(x) is defined as the inverse cosine(x) when -1\u2264x\u22641. Syntax # The following shows the syntax of the ACOS function. Argument # The ACOS function accepts a numeric_expression that evaluates to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1083,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-995","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SQL ACOS: Calculate Arccosine of a Numeric Expression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This tutorial shows you how to use the SQL ACOS function to calculate the arccosine of a numeric expression that evaluates a float value between -1 and 1.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/sql-math-functions\/sql-acos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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