What is cosine similarity used for in Oracle AI Vector Search?

Cosine similarity is a metric used to measure how similar two non-zero vectors are in an inner product space. In the context of Oracle AI Vector Search, it is particularly useful for determining the similarity between vector representations of data. When working with high-dimensional data, such as text embeddings or feature vectors, cosine similarity calculates the cosine of the angle between two vectors, which indicates how closely they align with one another.

A cosine similarity value ranges from -1 to 1, where 1 indicates that the two vectors are identical in orientation (though they may differ in magnitude), and 0 indicates that they are orthogonal (not similar at all). This makes cosine similarity an ideal choice for measuring the proximity of items in a vector space, which is foundational in various applications, including recommendations, clustering, and information retrieval within the Oracle Vector Search system.

The other options do not accurately reflect the primary function of cosine similarity within this context. While it’s true that calculating distance between points and transforming data into a standard format are significant in data analysis, those processes are distinct from what cosine similarity achieves. Creating visual representations of data, while important for understanding data trends, also does not pertain to the computation or evaluation of similarity between vectors. Thus, using cosine