Cosine Similarity Calculator

Calculate cosine similarity, angle, and distance between vectors

Calculate Cosine Similarity

Both vectors will have the same dimension

Vector A = [a1, a2, a3]

Vector A: [1, 2, 3]

Vector B = [b1, b2, b3]

Vector B: [4, 5, 6]

Cosine Similarity Results

0.974632
Cosine Similarity
12.93°
Angle Between Vectors
0.025368
Cosine Distance

Formula: cos(θ) = (A⃗ · B⃗) / (||A⃗|| × ||B⃗||)

Dot Product (A⃗ · B⃗): 32.000000

Magnitude ||A⃗||: 3.741657

Magnitude ||B⃗||: 8.774964

Interpretation: Very similar vectors (same direction)

Step-by-Step Calculation

1. Calculate dot product: A⃗ · B⃗ = 1×4 + 2×5 + 3×6 = 32.000000

2. Calculate ||A⃗||: √(1² + 2² + 3²) = 3.741657

3. Calculate ||B⃗||: √(4² + 5² + 6²) = 8.774964

4. Cosine similarity: 32.000000 ÷ (3.741657 × 8.774964) = 0.974632

5. Angle: arccos(0.974632) = 12.93°

Similarity Analysis

✅ High similarity: Vectors point in similar directions (acute angle).

Example: 2D Vector Similarity

Given Vectors

Vector A: [1, 5]

Vector B: [-1, 3]

Goal: Find cosine similarity and angle between vectors

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Dot product: A⃗ · B⃗ = (1)(-1) + (5)(3) = -1 + 15 = 14

2. Magnitude of A: ||A⃗|| = √(1² + 5²) = √26 ≈ 5.099

3. Magnitude of B: ||B⃗|| = √((-1)² + 3²) = √10 ≈ 3.162

4. Cosine similarity: 14 ÷ (5.099 × 3.162) ≈ 0.868

5. Result: cos(θ) = 0.868, θ ≈ 29.7°

Similarity Scale

1.0
Identical direction
0.5
Similar (60° angle)
0.0
Orthogonal (90° angle)
-0.5
Dissimilar (120° angle)
-1.0
Opposite direction

Key Formulas

Cosine Similarity

cos(θ) = (A⃗ · B⃗) / (||A⃗|| × ||B⃗||)

Dot Product

A⃗ · B⃗ = Σ(aᵢ × bᵢ)

Vector Magnitude

||A⃗|| = √(Σaᵢ²)

Cosine Distance

D = 1 - cos(θ)

Understanding Cosine Similarity

What is Cosine Similarity?

Cosine similarity measures the cosine of the angle between two vectors, indicating their directional similarity regardless of magnitude. It's widely used in machine learning, natural language processing, and recommendation systems.

Key Properties

  • Range: [-1, 1] where 1 means identical direction, -1 means opposite
  • Independent of vector magnitude (only considers direction)
  • Undefined for zero vectors (magnitude = 0)
  • 0 indicates orthogonal (perpendicular) vectors

Applications

Machine Learning

Document similarity, clustering, classification

Recommendation Systems

User preference similarity, item recommendations

Data Science

Feature correlation, dimensionality reduction

Text Analysis

Semantic similarity, information retrieval

Note: Cosine distance (1 - cosine similarity) is not a true metric as it doesn't satisfy the triangle inequality property.