Converting Between Degrees and Radians

1-minute read

In order to convert degrees to radians, multiply the angle in degrees by $\pi$ and divide by $180\degree$:

$$45\degree = 45\degree \times \frac{\pi}{180\degree} \ =\frac{\pi}{4} $$

Take for example the code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
#define PI acos(-1.0)

void clear_input_buffer(){
    int ch;
    while((ch=getchar())!='\n'&&ch!=EOF);
}


int main(){

    float angle_in_degrees;
    int correct_inputs = 0;

    do {
        printf("Please enter an angle in degrees to convert to radians:\n");
        correct_inputs = scanf("%f",&angle_in_degrees);
        if (correct_inputs==0){
            printf("Invalid input\n");
        }
        clear_input_buffer();
    }while (correct_inputs==0);

    printf("The angle in radians is %f\n",PI*angle_in_degrees/180.0);
    return 0;
}
degrees-to-radians.c
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Conversely, we can convert from radians back to degrees by multiplying by $180\degree$ and dividing by $\pi$: $$\frac{\pi}{3}=\frac{\pi}{3}\times \frac{180\degree}{\pi}=60\degree$$

Challenge

Convert the following angles to radians:

  • $45\degree$
  • $360\degree$
  • $-135\degree$

Convert the following angles to degrees:

  • $\frac{\pi}{4}\ rad$
  • $3\pi \ rad$
  • $\frac{-\pi}{5}\ rad$

Rewrite the C code above to convert an angle in radians, provided by the user, back to degrees.

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