A relative position of two articles is determined by generating a magnetic field using a magnetic element of a first article and determining a first measurement value and a second measurement value using a sensor arrangement of a second article, with the first and the second measurement values correlated to the size of the magnetic field in two different spatial directions and correspond to two different magnetic field components. The sensor arrangement is selected such that the first magnetic field component is essentially parallel to the direction of relative movement of the articles and the second magnetic field component is essentially perpendicular to the relative direction of movement of the articles. A difference signal of the absolute magnitudes of the first and second measured values is used to determine the relative position of the first and second articles. A position detector is also provided.