ATAN ATAN Inverse Trigonometric Arctangent Function Usage Computes the atan function for its argument. The general syntax for its use is y = atan(x) where x is an n-dimensional array of numerical type. Integer types are promoted to the double type prior to calculation of the atan function. Output y is of the same size and type as the input x, (unless x is an integer, in which case y is a double type).