German Published Patent Appln. No. 10 2009 029 396 relates to a method for operating an electrical machine, in which method the electrical machine has a stator and a rotor, and the angular position of the rotor with respect to the stator is identified using a resolver principle. The basis of the resolver principle is that a magnetic field is created inside the electrical machine by way of a coil, i.e. either the rotor winding or the stator winding. This magnetic field induces, in the respective other winding, a voltage whose parameters depend on the angular position of the rotor with respect to the stator. If this induced voltage is evaluated, the angular position can consequently be deduced with no need for the electrical machine to have an additional sensor.