I have 3 points p1(x1, y1), p2(x2, y2) and p3(x3, y3). I am trying to calculate angle (in anti-clockwise direction) between these 3 points. I am using following dot product method as provided in multiple blogs and SE sites (like this).
def angle_between(p1, p2, p3):
x1, y1 = p1
x2, y2 = p2
x3, y3 = p3
v21 = (x1 - x2, y1 - y2)
v23 = (x3 - x2, y3 - y2)
dot = v21[0] * v23[0] + v21[1] * v23[1]
det = v21[0] * v23[1] - v21[1] * v23[0]
theta = np.rad2deg(np.arctan2(det, dot))
print(theta)
It is giving me correct angle for any points which are not on the straight line. For example
p1 = (0, 0)
p2 = (1, 0)
p3 = (1, 1)
angle_between(p1, p2, p3) # Prints -90
angle_between(p3, p2, p1) # Prints +90
However, if points are on the straight line, it is giving me same answer
p1 = (0, 0)
p2 = (1, 0)
p3 = (2, 0)
angle_between(p1, p2, p3) # Prints +180
angle_between(p3, p2, p1) # Prints +180
Here I was expecting (p3, p2, p1) to give -180. What am I missing here? If the method I am using is not correct, can someone help me point towards the correct method?
I have tried to use direct cosine law (as given here) but it only provides me angle without any sense of direction of the angle.
Check out this solution. It always provides positive angles, measured in anti-clockwise direction:
from math import atan2, degrees
def angle_between(p1, p2, p3):
x1, y1 = p1
x2, y2 = p2
x3, y3 = p3
deg1 = (360 + degrees(atan2(x1 - x2, y1 - y2))) % 360
deg2 = (360 + degrees(atan2(x3 - x2, y3 - y2))) % 360
return deg2 - deg1 if deg1 <= deg2 else 360 - (deg1 - deg2)