Abstract
The Weinberg-Salam theory is reformulated as a pure Yang-Mills theory in a six-dimensional space, the Higgs field being interpreted as gauge potentials in the additional dimensions. Viewed in this way, the condition that the Higgs field transforms as a U(1) representation of charge one is equivalent to requiring a value of 30 degrees for the Weinberg angle. A second consistent determination comes form the idea borrowed from monopole theory that the electromagnetic field is the direction of the Higgs field.