---
name: "vectorCos"
type: command
status: ok
groups: ["Math - Vectors"]
arma3_since: "1.22"
locality: {"argument": null, "effect": null, "server_exec": false}
source: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/vectorCos
revid: 379310
updated: 2026-10-30T23:49:30Z
---

# vectorCos

*Command · Math - Vectors · Arma 3 v1.22*

## Description

Cosine of angle between two 3D or 2D vectors.

## Syntax

```sqf
vector1 vectorCos vector2
```

**Parameters:**

- `vector1`: [Vector3D](../topics/Vector3D.md) or Arma 3 v2.00 [Vector2D](../topics/Vector2D.md) - When [Vector2D](../topics/Vector2D.md) is provided the z coordinate is defaulted to 0
- `vector2`: [Vector3D](../topics/Vector3D.md) or Arma 3 v2.00 [Vector2D](../topics/Vector2D.md) - When [Vector2D](../topics/Vector2D.md) is provided the z coordinate is defaulted to 0

**Returns:** [Number](../topics/Number.md)

## Examples

### Example 1

```sqf
_cos = getPos player vectorCos [0,0,2];
```

## See also

[vectorAdd](../commands/vectorAdd.md) · [vectorDiff](../commands/vectorDiff.md) · [vectorCrossProduct](../commands/vectorCrossProduct.md) · [vectorDotProduct](../commands/vectorDotProduct.md) · [vectorMagnitude](../commands/vectorMagnitude.md) · [vectorMagnitudeSqr](../commands/vectorMagnitudeSqr.md) · [vectorMultiply](../commands/vectorMultiply.md) · [vectorDistance](../commands/vectorDistance.md) · [vectorDistanceSqr](../commands/vectorDistanceSqr.md) · [vectorDir](../commands/vectorDir.md) · [vectorUp](../commands/vectorUp.md) · [setVectorDir](../commands/setVectorDir.md) · [setVectorUp](../commands/setVectorUp.md) · [setVectorDirAndUp](../commands/setVectorDirAndUp.md) · [vectorNormalized](../commands/vectorNormalized.md) · [vectorFromTo](../commands/vectorFromTo.md) · [matrixMultiply](../commands/matrixMultiply.md) · [matrixTranspose](../commands/matrixTranspose.md)

## Community notes

**ffur2007slx2_5** — 2014-06-28

Arma 3 v1.22 Algorithm:

```sqf
Vector1 = [x1,y1,z1]; Vector2 = [x2,y2,z2];
Result = ((x1 * x2) + (y1 * y2) + (z1 * z2))/((sqrt (x1 ^ 2 + y1 ^ 2 + z1 ^ 2))*(sqrt (x2 ^ 2 + y2 ^ 2 + z2 ^ 2)));
```

Given two vectors of attributes, A and B, the cosine similarity, cos(θ), is represented using a dot product and magnitude. The resulting similarity values indicating intermediate similarity or dissimilarity between two vectors.

<sub>Source: [BI Community Wiki — vectorCos](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/vectorCos) (revision 379310).</sub>