Syntax
TANH(number)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| number | Parameter of the TANH function. |
Examples
TANH of 0
Formula
=TANH(0)
Returns 0. TANH passes through the origin, with its steepest slope there.
TANH of large number
Formula
=TANH(5)
Returns ~0.99991. TANH quickly approaches 1 for positive inputs and -1 for negative inputs.
Activation function
Formula
=TANH(A1*B1+C1)
Applies a TANH activation to a weighted input (A1×weight + bias). Commonly used in neural network calculations in spreadsheets.
Common Errors
#VALUE!
Non-numeric input returns #VALUE!.
Tips
Output range is -1 to 1
TANH always returns a value between -1 and 1, approaching these limits asymptotically. This makes it a natural normalizing function.
Machine learning connection
TANH is a popular activation function in neural networks. It's a scaled and shifted version of the logistic sigmoid: TANH(x) = 2×sigmoid(2x) - 1.
Rapid saturation
TANH saturates quickly: by x=3, it's already at 0.995. For practical purposes, TANH(x) ≈ 1 when x > 3 and ≈ -1 when x < -3.
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