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Polar coordinates are an alternative way to specify a point on a two dimensional plane. Rather than specify x and y, we specify r and theta where r is the distance from the origin and theta is the angle with the positive x axis.

Relating polar and cartrsian coordinates is easy:

r=sqrt(x^2 + y^2)

Theta = artan(y/x) sometimes written as tan-1(y/x)

2007-02-07 20:29:28 · answer #1 · answered by gumtrees 3 · 1 0

Normally you give the coordinates of a point by saying how much across and how much up you go on a grid. These are usually written as x and y.

In polar coordinates, you draw a line from your point to the origin (0,0) and you provide two numbers: how far is the point from the origin (usually called r) and what angle does this line make with the x axis (usually called theta).

You can relate polar to rectangular (normal) coordinates:

x = r.cos(theta)
y = r.sin(theta)

r = sqrt(x² + y²)
theta = inverse_tan(y/x)

2007-02-07 20:32:35 · answer #2 · answered by Gnomon 6 · 1 0

x=|z|.cos a
y=|z|.sin a

a is the angle between x axis and z vector
|z|=r is the length of the vector

2007-02-07 20:29:24 · answer #3 · answered by iyiogrenci 6 · 0 0

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