Oracle ACOS() Function

Oracle ACOS() is a built-in function that returns the arccosine of a given number.

Oracle ACOS() syntax

Here is the syntax for the Oracle ACOS() function:

ACOS(num)

Parameters

num

Required. A numeric value used to compute the arccosine. It must be between -1 and 1.

It can be any numeric data type or any non-numeric data type that can be implicitly converted to a numeric data type.

Return Value

The Oracle ACOS() function returns the arccosine of a given number. It is a value in the range 0 to pi expressed in radians.

If the parameter is of type BINARY_FLOAT, ACOS() returns a BINARY_DOUBLE. Otherwise, ACOS() returns the same data type as the parameter.

If the parameter is not between -1 and 1, the ACOS() function will report an error.

If any parameter is NULL, ACOS() will return NULL.

Oracle ACOS() Examples

Here are some examples that demonstrate the usage of the Oracle ACOS() function.

Basic Usage

SELECT
    ACOS(0.5)
FROM dual;

Output:

                                  ACOS(0.5)
___________________________________________
   1.04719755119659774615421446109316762805

1 and -1

SELECT
    ACOS(1),
    ACOS(-1)
FROM dual;

Output:

   ACOS(1)                                   ACOS(-1)
__________ __________________________________________
         0    3.1415926535897932384626433832795028842

Out of Range

If the parameter is not between -1 and 1, the ACOS() function will report an error.

SELECT
    ACOS(2),
    ACOS(-2)
FROM dual;

Output:

SQL Error: ORA-01428: parameter '2' is out of range
01428\. 00000 -  "parameter '%s' is out of range"

Non-Numeric Values

If the parameter cannot be converted to a number, ACOS() will give an error.

SELECT
  ACOS('ABC')
FROM dual;

Output:

01722\. 00000 -  "invalid number"
*Cause:    The specified number was invalid.
*Action:   Specify a valid number.

NULL Parameters

If any parameter is NULL, ACOS() will return NULL.

SET NULL 'NULL';
SELECT
    ACOS(NULL)
FROM dual;

Output:

   ACOS(NULL)
_____________
         NULL

In this example, we use the statement SET NULL 'NULL'; to display NULL values as the string 'NULL'.

Conclusion

Oracle ACOS() is a built-in function that returns the arccosine of a given number.