Question

what is the difference between arctan and inverse tan

Answer 1

None. They're the same thing, just different names.

Answer 2

They are all a ratio between two angles of the triangle. Depending which two angles will determine which function you're talking about.
Trig functions is what you should be studying to help you understand this better... (if you want to :D) hope this helps good luck!!

Answer 3

@Viviana! that doesn't really help answer the question, as they want to know the difference between arctan and inverse tan - which are the same thing.

eg
\[\tan \theta = x\]then \[\theta = \arctan x\]
or
\[\tan \theta = x\]then \[\theta = \tan^{-1} x\]

Arctan and inverse tan are just two different ways of writing the same thing. Same goes for arccos and inverse cosine, and arcsin and inverse sine.

Answer 4

okay you should go with what he says!! :D sorry

Answer 5

i believe they have similar traits, but also have a few distinct nuances

inverse tangent (tan^-1) is a single valued function, a unique y for a given x

whereas arctan is used in many cases to express a mutlivalued function, more than one y for a given x.

tan^-1 (1) = pi/4

arctan (1) = (4k+1)pi/4, k e Z

Answer 6

@amistre64 are you sure about that? I've never read/known anything to suggest it. Inverse tan can have multiple values the same way arctan does. Far as I can tell, they're two names that mean the same thing, except that using tan^-1 (x) can be confusing because it can be interpreted as 1/tan(x).

Answer 7

it might just be the way im interpreting the question. Im assuming "inverse tangent" is refering to the tan-1 instead of a more general concept. To try to relate this with the historical literature and usage is futile at best. And i havent found a suitable modern day definition to go by :)

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=arcTan&a=*C.arcTan-_*MathWorld-