The quadrant your calculator forgets
Two components in, one heading out: , read aloud theta equals inverse tan of v-y over v-x. Rise over run — is the northward component and the eastward one, both in the same unit, and the ratio is bare, which is why comes back in degrees no matter what those units were. It is the right triangle's own — opposite over adjacent — with the vector's two shadows playing the legs.
Here is the trap that costs whole marks. Your calculator's key only ever returns an angle between and — the first and fourth quadrants — because and are the same number and it cannot tell them apart. So when is negative, the arrow points west and the honest answer is minus what the key gave you. Sketch the arrow first, every time; the sketch knows the quadrant and the keypad does not. (The two-argument form, , is the same fix written into software.) And check your mode: this room works in degrees.