and R is a 3×3 rotation matrix. In this article the axis-angle representation is used, and θ = θ e is the "axis-angle vector", the angle θ multiplied by a unit vector e parallel to the axis. Also, the right-handed convention for the spatial coordinates is used (see orientation (vector space)), so that rotations are positive in the anticlockwise sense according to the right-hand rule, and negative in the clockwise sense. With these conventions; the rotation matrix rotates any 3d vector about the axis e through angle θ anticlockwise (an active transformation), which has the equivalent effect of rotating the coordinate frame clockwise about the same axis through the same angle (a passive transformation).