Evaluate tan(-480 degrees )

$\tan (- 480 °)$

Add full rotations of $360$ ° until the angle is between $0$ ° and $360$ °.

$\tan (240)$

Apply the reference angle by finding the angle with equivalent trig values in the first quadrant.

$\tan (60)$

The exact value of $\tan (60)$ is $\sqrt{3}$ .

$\sqrt{3}$

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$\sqrt{3}$

Decimal Form:

$1.73205080 \dots$