Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (2024)

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LH on 4 Jan 2024

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Answered: Torsten on 4 Jan 2024

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Hi all,

As shown below in the figure, I have two vectors, Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (2)and Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (3), and I want to calculate the angle with the norm,Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (4) andCalculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (5), between each of these vectors with respect to vector L using the dot product.

Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (6)

Here is a simple code to calculate these angles:

close all;

clear all;

%define the reference vector

L = [-0.5 -0.5];

%v1

v1 = [-0.6788 0.3214];

%theta1 with the x axis

theta1 = acos((v1(1)*L(1)+v1(2)*L(2))/(sqrt(v1(1)^2+v1(2)^2)*sqrt(L(1)^2+L(2)^2)));

%theta1 with the norm

theta1norm = pi/2 - theta1;

%v2

v2 = [0.3214 -0.6788];

%theta2 with the x axis

theta2 = acos((v2(1)*L(1)+v2(2)*L(2))/(sqrt(v2(1)^2+v2(2)^2)*sqrt(L(1)^2+L(2)^2)));

%theta1 with the norm

theta2norm = pi/2 - theta2;

My question here is that the product produces both angles to be equal, i.e., Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (7). However, and as shwon in the figure, it is clear that Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (8), i.e., Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (9)and Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (10). How can I caulcate these angles correctly using the dot product?

Thanks.

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Dyuman Joshi on 4 Jan 2024

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"However, and as shwon in the figure, it is clear that Theta2n = Theta1N + pi/2"

How exactly is that clear or shown?

"How can I caulcate these angles correctly using the dot product?"

Utilize these functions - dot, norm

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Answers (3)

Hassaan on 4 Jan 2024

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% Close all figures and clear variables

close all;

clear all;

% Define the reference vector

L = [-0.5 -0.5];

% Define the first vector v1 and calculate the angle with L

v1 = [-0.6788 0.3214];

% Dot product of v1 and L

dot_v1_L = dot(v1, L);

% Norms of v1 and L

norm_v1 = norm(v1);

norm_L = norm(L);

% Angle theta1 with the x axis

theta1 = acos(dot_v1_L / (norm_v1 * norm_L));

% Angle theta1 with the norm

theta1norm = pi/2 - theta1;

% Define the second vector v2 and calculate the angle with L

% Dot product of v2 and L

dot_v2_L = dot(v2, L);

% Norms of v2

norm_v2 = norm(v2);

% Angle theta2 with the x axis

theta2 = acos(dot_v2_L / (norm_v2 * norm_L));

% Angle theta2 with the norm

theta2norm = pi/2 - theta2;

% Convert angles to degrees

theta1_degree = radtodeg(theta1);

theta2_degree = radtodeg(theta2);

theta1norm_degree = radtodeg(theta1norm);

theta2norm_degree = radtodeg(theta2norm);

% Display the results

disp(['Theta1: ', num2str(theta1_degree), ' degrees']);

Theta1: 70.3367 degrees

disp(['Theta2: ', num2str(theta2_degree), ' degrees']);

Theta2: 70.3367 degrees

disp(['Theta1 from the norm: ', num2str(theta1norm_degree), ' degrees']);

Theta1 from the norm: 19.6633 degrees

disp(['Theta2 from the norm: ', num2str(theta2norm_degree), ' degrees']);

Theta2 from the norm: 19.6633 degrees

The functions dot and norm are used to calculate the dot product and the magnitude of the vectors, respectively, and acos computes the arccosine of the given value to obtain the angle in radians. The function radtodeg converts the angle from radians to degrees.

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James Tursa on 4 Jan 2024

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Edited: James Tursa on 4 Jan 2024

Also see this related link for a robust method using atan2 that can recover small angles:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/101590-how-can-i-determine-the-angle-between-two-vectors-in-matlab?s_tid=srchtitle

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Torsten on 4 Jan 2024

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I think an intuitive way is to compute the angles between the positive x-axis and the respective vector counterclockwise first (the result will be between 0 and 360) and then make the necessary subtractions.

theta1 = cart2pol(L(1)/norm(L),L(2)/norm(L))*180/pi

if theta1 <=0

theta1 = 360 + theta1;

end

theta2 = cart2pol(v1(1)/norm(v1),v1(2)/norm(v1))*180/pi

if theta2 <=0

theta2 = 360 + theta2;

end

theta3 = cart2pol(v2(1)/norm(v2),v2(2)/norm(v2))*180/pi

if theta3 <=0

theta3 = 360 + theta3;

end

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Calculate angles correctly between two vectors using the dot product. (2024)

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