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How Can You Find the Angle Between Two Vectors?


Two vectors making up an angle

The angle between two vectors is always an angle α [0°, 180°].

Formula

The Angle Between Two Vectors

cos α = u v |u| |v|,α [0°, 180°]

Example 1

Find the angle between the vectors (4, 1) and (2,3).

You insert the numbers into the formula, which gives you cos α = (4, 1) (2,3) | (4, 1)| | (2,3)| = 8 3 42 + 12 22 + (3 ) 2 = 5 17 13 5 14.86 0.336.

That means the angle is

α = cos 1 (0.336) 70.3°.

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