Formula for rotating vectors Let $u = (u_1, u_2)$ and $x=(x,y)$ a rotation of u by an angle θ. Then $\left\lVert u \right\rVert = \left\lVert x \right\rVert$
We know:
$$cosθ = {{u \cdot x}\over \left\lVert u \right\rVert \cdot \left\lVert x \right\rVert} = {{u \cdot x}\over \left\lVert u \right\rVert \cdot \left\lVert u \right\rVert} =  {{u \cdot x}\over \left\lVert u \right\rVert^2} =  {{u \cdot x} \over u \cdot u} \Leftrightarrow (u \cdot u)  cosθ = u \cdot x \tag 1 $$
Expanding $(1)$:
$$(u_1^2 +u_2^2)cosθ = u_1x +u_2y \tag 2 $$
We also know:
$$\left\lVert u \right\rVert = \left\lVert x \right\rVert \Leftrightarrow \sqrt{u_1^2 +u_2^2} = \sqrt{x^2 +y^2} \Rightarrow u_1^2 +u_2^2 = x^2 +y^2 \tag 3$$
For any set of $(u_1,u_2, θ)$ we now have a system of two equations and two unknowns. We should get two vectors that form an angle $θ$ with $u$ out of that.
But I was trying to combine these two formulas ($(2)$ and $(3)$) into a single generic one and I failed. Is it possible to do that?
Or could we solve $(1)$ for $x$ some way to get a vector equation for the rotation? $(x,y) = x_{something}\ cosθ \ (u_1, u_2) $ would be nice.
I know there is a formula for vector rotations using matrix transformations but I would like to know if it is possible to do the same thing with the aforementioned equations.
 A: Suppose that $u_1,$ $u_2,$ and $\theta$ are given.
First solve for $y$ in Equation $(2)$:
$$ y = \frac1{u_2}(u_1^2 +u_2^2)\cos\theta - \frac{u_1}{u_2}x. \tag4$$
Now let $h = \frac1{u_2}(u_1^2 +u_2^2)\cos\theta$
and let $m = \frac{u_1}{u_2}.$
Note that for any given value of $u_1,$ $u_2,$ and $\theta,$
we can treat $h$ and $m$ as constants.
Likewise we can set $r = \sqrt{u_1^2 + u_2^2}$ and treat $r$ as a constant.
You don't really need to define these extra symbols, but they are a reminder of some important quantities that do not depend on $x$ or $y,$ and they let you write the equations a little quicker and therefore manipulate them a little easier.
Now we can write Equation $(4)$ as
$$ y = h - mx \tag5$$
and Equation $(3)$ as
$$ x^2 + y^2 = r^2 . \tag6$$
Use Equation $(5)$ to substitute for $y$ in Equation $(6)$:
$$ x^2 + (h - mx)^2 = r^2. $$
Expand $(h - mx)^2$ and collect the terms in $x^2$ and $x$; also make a single constant term:
$$ (m^2 + 1)x^2 - 2hmx + (h^2 - r^2) = 0. $$
This is a quadratic equation, $ax^2 + b + c=0$ with $a=m^2+1,$
$b = -2hm,$ and $c = h^2 - r^2.$ Solving it,
\begin{align}
x &= \frac{2hm \pm \sqrt{4h^2m^2 - 4(m^2 + 1)(h^2 - r^2)}}{2(m^2 + 1)}\\
 &= \frac{2hm \pm \sqrt{4h^2m^2 - 4(h^2m^2 + h^2 - (m^2+1)r^2)}}{2(m^2 + 1)}\\
 &= \frac{hm \pm \sqrt{(m^2+1)r^2 - h^2}}{m^2 + 1}.
\end{align}
Now let's put back the original symbols, but carefully:
\begin{align}
h^2 &= \frac1{u_2^2}(u_1^2 +u_2^2)^2\cos^2\theta = \frac{r^4}{u_2^2}\cos^2\theta, \\
m^2 + 1 &= \frac{u_1^2}{u_2^2} + 1 = \frac{u_1^2 + u_2^2}{u_2^2} = \frac{r^2}{u_2^2},\\
(m^2+1)r^2 - h^2 &= \frac{r^4}{u_2^2} - \frac{r^4}{u_2^2}\cos^2\theta
   = \frac{r^4}{u_2^2} \sin^2\theta, \\
\sqrt{(m^2+1)r^2 - h^2} &= \frac{r^2}{u_2} \sin\theta, \\
hm &= \frac{u_1}{u_2^2}(u_1^2 +u_2^2)\cos\theta = \frac{u_1r^2}{u_2^2}\cos\theta.
\end{align}
Therefore
\begin{align}
x &= \frac{\dfrac{u_1r^2}{u_2^2}\cos\theta \pm \dfrac{r^2}{u_2} \sin\theta}
         {\dfrac{r^2}{u_2^2}} \\
&= u_1 \cos\theta \pm u_2 \sin\theta, \\[1ex]
y &= \frac{u_1^2 +u_2^2}{u_2}\cos\theta 
    - \frac{u_1}{u_2}(u_1 \cos\theta \pm u_2 \sin\theta) \\
&= \frac1{u_2}((u_1^2 +u_2^2)\cos\theta  - (u_1^2 \cos\theta \pm u_1u_2 \sin\theta)) \\
&= \frac1{u_2}(u_2^2\cos\theta  \mp u_1u_2 \sin\theta) \\
&= u_2\cos\theta \mp u_1 \sin\theta, \\
\end{align}
which is the same as you get from the rotation matrix.
The $\pm$ and $\mp$ occur because your equations are not sufficient to distinguish a rotation by $\theta$ from a rotation by $-\theta,$ so we get solutions for two rotation matrices.
A: Using complex numbers :
$$\begin{array}{lcl}
x + i y & = & (u_1 + i u_2) e^{i\theta} \\[3mm]
& = & (u_1 + i u_2)(\cos \theta + i \sin \theta) \\[3mm]
& = & u_1 \cos \theta - u_2 \sin \theta + i (u_1 \sin \theta + u_2 \cos \theta)
\end{array}$$
Hence :
$$\left\{\begin{array}{lcl}
x & = & u_1 \cos \theta - u_2 \sin \theta \\[3mm]
y & = & u_1 \sin \theta + u_2 \cos \theta
\end{array}\right.$$
