The polar coordinates (the radial coordinate) and (the angular coordinate, often called the polar angle) are defined in terms of Cartesian coordinates by

where is the radial distance from the origin, and is the counterclockwise angle from the x-axis. In terms of and ,

(Here, should be interpreted as the two-argument inverse tangent which takes the signs of and into account to determine in which quadrant lies.) It follows immediately that polar coordinates aren't inherently unique; in particular, will be precisely the same polar point as for any integer . What's more, one often allows negative values of under the assumption that is plotted identically to .

The expression of a point as an ordered pair is known as polar notation, the equation of a curve expressed in polar coordinates is known as a polar equation, and a plot of a curve in polar coordinates is known as a polar plot.

In much the same way that Cartesian curves can be plotted on rectilinear axes, polar plots can be drawn on radial axes such as those shown in the figure above.

The arc length of a polar curve given by is

The line element is given by

and the area element by

The area enclosed by a polar curve is

The slope of a polar function at the point is given by

The angle between the tangent and radial line at the point is

A polar curve is symmetric about the x-axis if replacing by in its equation produces an equivalent equation, symmetric about the y-axis if replacing by in its equation produces an equivalent equation, and symmetric about the origin if replacing by in its equation produces an equivalent equation.

In Cartesian coordinates, the radius vector is

giving derivative

Its unit vector is

giving derivative

In polar coordinates, the radius vector is given by

giving derivatives

The unit vectors are

giving derivatives

By way of the Euler formula, the graphical representation of a complex number in terms of its complex modulus and its complex argument is closely related to polar coordinates. Indeed, the Argand diagram of such a is easily seen to be analogous to the usual polar plot.

See also

Argand Diagram, Cardioid, Circle, Cissoid, Conchoid, Complex Argument, Complex Modulus, Complex Number, Curvilinear Coordinates, Cylindrical Coordinates, Euler Formula, Lemniscate, Limaçon, Logarithmic Spiral, Polar Angle, Polar Curve, Polar Plot, Polar Vector, Rose Curve Explore this topic in the MathWorld classroom

Portions of this entry contributed by Christopher Stover

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Cite this as:

Stover, Christopher and Weisstein, Eric W. "Polar Coordinates." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PolarCoordinates.html

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