Can somebody describe a helical axis / helical coordinates to me?

Question

Are these anything like polar coordinates or cylindrical coordinates?

Answer 1

They're similar to cylindrical coordinates, except that the 'z' axis is described in terms of some function of Φ.

Doug

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix

If you project the movement in the plane xy, it will be circular. But z will be constantly increasing.

Ilusion