COSINE_DISTANCE

Calculates the cosine distance between two vectors, measuring how dissimilar they are.

Syntax

COSINE_DISTANCE(vector1, vector2)

Arguments

• vector1: First vector (VECTOR Data Type)
• vector2: Second vector (VECTOR Data Type)

Returns

Returns a FLOAT value between 0 and 1:

• 0: Identical vectors (completely similar)
• 1: Orthogonal vectors (completely dissimilar)

Description

The cosine distance measures the dissimilarity between two vectors based on the angle between them, regardless of their magnitude. The function:

1. Verifies that both input vectors have the same length
2. Computes the sum of element-wise products (dot product) of the two vectors
3. Calculates the square root of the sum of squares for each vector (vector magnitudes)
4. Returns 1 - (dot_product / (magnitude1 * magnitude2))

The mathematical formula implemented is:

cosine_distance(v1, v2) = 1 - (Σ(v1ᵢ * v2ᵢ) / (√Σ(v1ᵢ²) * √Σ(v2ᵢ²)))

Where v1ᵢ and v2ᵢ are the elements of the input vectors.

Examples

Basic Usage

-- Calculate cosine distance between two vectors
SELECT COSINE_DISTANCE([1.0, 2.0, 3.0]::vector(3), [4.0, 5.0, 6.0]::vector(3)) AS distance;

Result:

╭─────────────╮
│   distance  │
├─────────────┤
│ 0.025368214 │
╰─────────────╯

Create a table with vector data:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE vectors (
    id INT,
    vec VECTOR(3)
);

INSERT INTO vectors VALUES
    (1, [1.0000, 2.0000, 3.0000]),
    (2, [1.0000, 2.2000, 3.0000]),
    (3, [4.0000, 5.0000, 6.0000]);

Find the vector most similar to [1, 2, 3]:

SELECT
    id,
    vec,
    COSINE_DISTANCE(vec, [1.0000, 2.0000, 3.0000]::VECTOR(3)) AS distance
FROM
    vectors
ORDER BY
    distance ASC;

╭────────────────────────────────────╮
│ id │    vec    │      distance     │
├────┼───────────┼───────────────────┤
│  1 │ [1,2,3]   │ 0.000000059604645 │
│  2 │ [1,2.2,3] │     0.00096315145 │
│  3 │ [4,5,6]   │       0.025368214 │
╰────────────────────────────────────╯