A method of determining the angular position (θ) of a rotor of an N-phase permanent magnet motor (PMM) includes providing a processor having an associated memory, wherein the memory stores an angular position determination (APD) equation or hardware is included implementing the APD equation. The APD equation determines the angular position from N-phase measurements obtained from the stator windings associated with each of the N-phases. A voltage or a current is forced upon the stator terminals of the stator windings for each of the N-phases, a resulting stator current or stator voltage is sensed to provide the N-phase measurements responsive to the forcing of the voltage or current, and the APD equation is used to determine the angular position from the N-phase measurements.