How to calculate the angle between a line and the horizontal axis?

Sorry, but I’m pretty sure Peter’s answer is wrong. Note that the y axis goes down the page (common in graphics). As such the deltaY calculation has to be reversed, or you get the wrong answer.

Consider:

System.out.println (Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(1,1)));
System.out.println (Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(-1,1)));
System.out.println (Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(1,-1)));
System.out.println (Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(-1,-1)));

gives

45.0
-45.0
135.0
-135.0

So if in the example above, P1 is (1,1) and P2 is (2,2) [because Y increases down the page], the code above will give 45.0 degrees for the example shown, which is wrong. Change the order of the deltaY calculation and it works properly.

I have found a solution in Python that is working well !

from math import atan2,degrees

def GetAngleOfLineBetweenTwoPoints(p1, p2):
    return degrees(atan2(p2 - p1, 1))

print GetAngleOfLineBetweenTwoPoints(1,3)

Based on reference “Peter O”.. Here is the java version

private static final float angleBetweenPoints(PointF a, PointF b) {
float deltaY = b.y - a.y;
float deltaX = b.x - a.x;
return (float) (Math.atan2(deltaY, deltaX)); }

Considering the exact question, putting us in a “special” coordinates system where positive axis means moving DOWN (like a screen or an interface view), you need to adapt this function like this, and negative the Y coordinates:

Example in Swift 2.0

func angle_between_two_points(pa:CGPoint,pb:CGPoint)->Double{
    let deltaY:Double = (Double(-pb.y) - Double(-pa.y))
    let deltaX:Double = (Double(pb.x) - Double(pa.x))
    var a = atan2(deltaY,deltaX)
    while a < 0.0 {
        a = a + M_PI*2
    }
    return a
}

This function gives a correct answer to the question. Answer is in radians, so the usage, to view angles in degrees, is:

let p1 = CGPoint(x: 1.5, y: 2) //estimated coords of p1 in question
let p2 = CGPoint(x: 2, y : 3) //estimated coords of p2 in question

print(angle_between_two_points(p1, pb: p2) / (M_PI/180))
//returns 296.56

deltaY = Math.Abs(P2.y - P1.y);
deltaX = Math.Abs(P2.x - P1.x);

angleInDegrees = Math.atan2(deltaY, deltaX) * 180 / PI

if(p2.y > p1.y) // Second point is lower than first, angle goes down (180-360)
{
  if(p2.x < p1.x)//Second point is to the left of first (180-270)
    angleInDegrees += 180;
  else //(270-360)
    angleInDegrees += 270;
}
else if (p2.x < p1.x) //Second point is top left of first (90-180)
  angleInDegrees += 90;

matlab function:

function [lineAngle] = getLineAngle(x1, y1, x2, y2) 
    deltaY = y2 - y1;
    deltaX = x2 - x1;

    lineAngle = rad2deg(atan2(deltaY, deltaX));

    if deltaY < 0
        lineAngle = lineAngle + 360;
    end
end

A formula for an angle from 0 to 2pi.

There is x=x2-x1 and y=y2-y1.The formula is working for

any value of x and y. For x=y=0 the result is undefined.

f(x,y)=pi()-pi()/2*(1+sign(x))*(1-sign(y^2))

     -pi()/4*(2+sign(x))*sign(y)

     -sign(x*y)*atan((abs(x)-abs(y))/(abs(x)+abs(y)))

import math
from collections import namedtuple


Point = namedtuple("Point", ["x", "y"])


def get_angle(p1: Point, p2: Point) -> float:
    """Get the angle of this line with the horizontal axis."""
    dx = p2.x - p1.x
    dy = p2.y - p1.y
    theta = math.atan2(dy, dx)
    angle = math.degrees(theta)  # angle is in (-180, 180]
    if angle < 0:
        angle = 360 + angle
    return angle

Testing

For testing I let hypothesis generate test cases.

import hypothesis.strategies as s
from hypothesis import given


@given(s.floats(min_value=0.0, max_value=360.0))
def test_angle(angle: float):
    epsilon = 0.0001
    x = math.cos(math.radians(angle))
    y = math.sin(math.radians(angle))
    p1 = Point(0, 0)
    p2 = Point(x, y)
    assert abs(get_angle(p1, p2) - angle) < epsilon