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Use the cot function in APL to compute the cotangent of an angle expressed in radians. The cotangent is the reciprocal of the tangent: cot(x) = cos(x) / sin(x). The function is undefined at multiples of π, where the sine is zero. cot is useful when you work with angular or cyclic calculations and need the cotangent as part of a larger formula. In observability, you might use it to transform normalized metric ratios into angular coordinates for signal analysis.

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For users of other query languages

If you come from other query languages, this section explains how to adjust your existing queries to achieve the same results in APL.
Splunk SPL doesn’t include a built-in cot() function. You compute it as the reciprocal of tan().
| eval cot_val = 1 / tan(angle_rad)
ANSI SQL does not define a standard COT() function, though SQL Server provides one. In PostgreSQL and other databases, you compute it as 1 / TAN(x).
SELECT 1.0 / TAN(angle_rad) AS cot_val FROM logs

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Usage

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Syntax

cot(x)

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Parameters

NameTypeRequiredDescription
xrealYesThe angle in radians. Must not be a multiple of π.

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Returns

The cotangent of x. Returns infinity or null when sin(x) equals zero (that is, when x is a multiple of π).

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Example

Use cot to compute the cotangent of an angle in radians. Query 
print result = cot(pi() / 4)
Run in Playground Output
result
1.0000
  • tan: Returns the tangent, the reciprocal of cot. Use it as the primary trigonometric ratio when cotangent is not needed.
  • sin: Returns the sine. Use it along with cos to compute cotangent manually as cos(x)/sin(x).
  • cos: Returns the cosine. Use it in combination with sin for manual cotangent calculation.
  • atan: Returns the arc tangent. Use it as the inverse of tan when you need to recover an angle.
  • radians: Converts degrees to radians. Use it to prepare degree-based angle inputs before calling cot.