Java: Calculating the angle between two points in

Question

I need to calculate the angle in degrees between two points for my own Point class, Point a shall be the center point.

Method:

public float getAngle(Point target) {
    return (float) Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(target.x - x, target.y - y));
}

Test 1: // returns 45

Point a = new Point(0, 0);
    System.out.println(a.getAngle(new Point(1, 1)));

Test 2: // returns -90, expected: 270

Point a = new Point(0, 0);
    System.out.println(a.getAngle(new Point(-1, 0)));

How can i convert the returned result into a number between 0 and 359?

Answer 1

What about something like :

angle = angle % 360;

Answer 2

The javadoc for Math.atan(double) is pretty clear that the returning value can range from -pi/2 to pi/2. So you need to compensate for that return value.

Answer 3

I started with johncarls solution, but needed to adjust it to get exactly what I needed. Mainly, I needed it to rotate clockwise when the angle increased. I also needed 0 degrees to point NORTH. His solution got me close, but I decided to post my solution as well in case it helps anyone else.

I've added some additional comments to help explain my understanding of the function in case you need to make simple modifications.

/**
 * Calculates the angle from centerPt to targetPt in degrees.
 * The return should range from [0,360), rotating CLOCKWISE, 
 * 0 and 360 degrees represents NORTH,
 * 90 degrees represents EAST, etc...
 *
 * Assumes all points are in the same coordinate space.  If they are not, 
 * you will need to call SwingUtilities.convertPointToScreen or equivalent 
 * on all arguments before passing them  to this function.
 *
 * @param centerPt   Point we are rotating around.
 * @param targetPt   Point we want to calcuate the angle to.  
 * @return angle in degrees.  This is the angle from centerPt to targetPt.
 */
public static double calcRotationAngleInDegrees(Point centerPt, Point targetPt)
{
    // calculate the angle theta from the deltaY and deltaX values
    // (atan2 returns radians values from [-PI,PI])
    // 0 currently points EAST.  
    // NOTE: By preserving Y and X param order to atan2,  we are expecting 
    // a CLOCKWISE angle direction.  
    double theta = Math.atan2(targetPt.y - centerPt.y, targetPt.x - centerPt.x);

    // rotate the theta angle clockwise by 90 degrees 
    // (this makes 0 point NORTH)
    // NOTE: adding to an angle rotates it clockwise.  
    // subtracting would rotate it counter-clockwise
    theta += Math.PI/2.0;

    // convert from radians to degrees
    // this will give you an angle from [0->270],[-180,0]
    double angle = Math.toDegrees(theta);

    // convert to positive range [0-360)
    // since we want to prevent negative angles, adjust them now.
    // we can assume that atan2 will not return a negative value
    // greater than one partial rotation
    if (angle < 0) {
        angle += 360;
    }

    return angle;
}

Answer 4

you could add the following:

public float getAngle(Point target) {
    float angle = (float) Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(target.y - y, target.x - x));

    if(angle < 0){
        angle += 360;
    }

    return angle;
}

by the way, why do you want to not use a double here?

Answer 5

Based on Saad Ahmed's answer, here is a method that can be used for any two points.

public static double calculateAngle(double x1, double y1, double x2, double y2)
{
    double angle = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(x2 - x1, y2 - y1));
    // Keep angle between 0 and 360
    angle = angle + Math.ceil( -angle / 360 ) * 360;

    return angle;
}

Answer 6

angle = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(target.x - x, target.y - y));

now for orientation of circular values to keep angle between 0 and 359 can be:

angle = angle + Math.ceil( -angle / 360 ) * 360