How can I find the difference between two angles?

Given 2 angles in the range -PI -> PI around a coordinate, what is the value of the smallest of the 2 angles between them?

Taking into account that the difference between PI and -PI is not 2 PI but zero.

Example:

Imagine a circle, with 2 lines coming out from the center, there are 2 angles between those lines, the angle they make on the inside aka the smaller angle, and the angle they make on the outside, aka the bigger angle. Both angles when added up make a full circle. Given that each angle can fit within a certain range, what is the smaller angles value, taking into account the rollover

This gives a signed angle for any angles:

a = targetA - sourceA
a = (a + 180) % 360 - 180

Beware in many languages the modulo operation returns a value with the same sign as the dividend (like C, C++, C#, JavaScript, full list here). This requires a custom mod function like so:

mod = (a, n) -> a - floor(a/n) * n

Or so:

mod = (a, n) -> (a % n + n) % n

If angles are within [-180, 180] this also works:

a = targetA - sourceA
a += (a>180) ? -360 : (a<-180) ? 360 : 0

In a more verbose way:

a = targetA - sourceA
a -= 360 if a > 180
a += 360 if a < -180

x is the target angle. y is the source or starting angle:

atan2(sin(x-y), cos(x-y))

It returns the signed delta angle. Note that depending on your API the order of the parameters for the atan2() function might be different.

If your two angles are x and y, then one of the angles between them is abs(x - y). The other angle is (2 * PI) - abs(x - y). So the value of the smallest of the 2 angles is:

min((2 * PI) - abs(x - y), abs(x - y))

This gives you the absolute value of the angle, and it assumes the inputs are normalized (ie: within the range [0, 2π)).

If you want to preserve the sign (ie: direction) of the angle and also accept angles outside the range [0, 2π) you can generalize the above. Here's Python code for the generalized version:

PI = math.pi
TAU = 2*PI
def smallestSignedAngleBetween(x, y):
    a = (x - y) % TAU
    b = (y - x) % TAU
    return -a if a < b else b

Note that the % operator does not behave the same in all languages, particularly when negative values are involved, so if porting some sign adjustments may be necessary.

I rise to the challenge of providing the signed answer:

def f(x,y):
  import math
  return min(y-x, y-x+2*math.pi, y-x-2*math.pi, key=abs)

An efficient code in C++ that works for any angle and in both: radians and degrees is:

inline double getAbsoluteDiff2Angles(const double x, const double y, const double c)
{
    // c can be PI (for radians) or 180.0 (for degrees);
    return c - fabs(fmod(fabs(x - y), 2*c) - c);
}

See it working here: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/sbgxyfchjr

For UnityEngine users, the easy way is just to use Mathf.DeltaAngle.

Arithmetical (as opposed to algorithmic) solution:

angle = Pi - abs(abs(a1 - a2) - Pi);

A simple method, which I use in C++ is:

double deltaOrientation = angle1 - angle2;
double delta =  remainder(deltaOrientation, 2*M_PI);

There is no need to compute trigonometric functions. The simple code in C language is:

#include <math.h>
#define PIV2 M_PI+M_PI
#define C360 360.0000000000000000000
double difangrad(double x, double y)
{
double arg;

arg = fmod(y-x, PIV2);
if (arg < 0 )  arg  = arg + PIV2;
if (arg > M_PI) arg  = arg - PIV2;

return (-arg);
}
double difangdeg(double x, double y)
{
double arg;
arg = fmod(y-x, C360);
if (arg < 0 )  arg  = arg + C360;
if (arg > 180) arg  = arg - C360;
return (-arg);
}

let dif = a - b , in radians

dif = difangrad(a,b);

let dif = a - b , in degrees

dif = difangdeg(a,b);

difangdeg(180.000000 , -180.000000) = 0.000000
difangdeg(-180.000000 , 180.000000) = -0.000000
difangdeg(359.000000 , 1.000000) = -2.000000
difangdeg(1.000000 , 359.000000) = 2.000000

No sin, no cos, no tan,.... only geometry!!!!