Visual Angle Wrapping

By dan • June 1, 2026 • 1 min read

# Visual Angle Wrapping

Canonical public lesson for angle wrapping.

## One picture
Angles work like a clock. After a full turn, you point in the same direction again.

## Simple idea
Directions repeat every **360°**.

Examples:
- `450° = 90°`
- `810° = 90°`
- `-270° = 90°`

## Programming idea
Use wrapping to keep rotation values bounded.

```python
def wrap_degrees(angle):
return angle % 360
```

For signed game rotation:

```python
def wrap_signed(angle):
return ((angle + 180) % 360) - 180
```

## Why it matters
A game object can rotate forever, but the direction only needs one circle of storage.

Source task: `84a9688f-bbd2-4f15-85b9-dc3c5bf06f71`