The flexural sensitivity of a V-shaped cantilever of an atomic force microscope has been analyzed, taking into account the angle between the cantilever and the sample surface, including not only the normal interaction force, but also the lateral force, and an approximate solution is obtained using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The results show that the effect of the cantilever slope on the sensitivity is significant. The sensitivity increases with decreasing slope when the contact stiffness is low. The flexural vibration mode of the V-shaped cantilever is more sensitive than that of a uniform cross-section cantilever. However, when the contact stiffness becomes large, the situation is reversed. Furthermore, decreasing the width and increasing the leg length increase the flexural sensitivity when the contact stiffness is low. Increasing the tip length increases the flexural sensitivity when the contact stiffness is high. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.