Polar coordinates

intrigonometry inPrinciples of trigonometry

For problems involving directions from a fixed origin (or pole) O, it is often convenient to specify a point P by its polar coordinates (r, θ), in which r is the distance OP and θ is the angle that the direction of r makes with a given initial line. The initial line may be identified with the x-axis of rectangular Cartesian coordinates, as shown in the figure. The point (r, θ) is the same as (r, θ + 2nπ) for any integer n. It is sometimes desirable to allow r to be negative, so that (r, θ) is the same as (−r, θ + π).

Given the Cartesian equation for a curve, the polar equation for the same curve can be obtained in terms of the radius r and the angle θ by substituting r cos θ and r sin θ for x and y, respectively. For example, the circle x2 + y2 = a2 has the polar equation (r cos θ)2 + (r sin θ)2 = a2, which reduces to r = a. (The positive value of r is sufficient, if θ takes all values from −π to π or from 0 to 2π). Thus the polar equation of a circle simply expresses the fact that the curve is independent of θ and has constant radius. In a similar manner, the line y = x tan ϕ has the polar equation sin θ = cos θ tan ϕ, which reduces to θ = ϕ. (The other solution, θ = ϕ + π, can be discarded if r is allowed to take negative values.)

Transformation of coordinates

A transformation of coordinates in a plane is a change from one coordinate system to another. Thus, a point in the plane will have two sets of coordinates giving its position with respect to the two coordinate systems used, and a transformation will express the relationship between the coordinate systems. For example, the transformation between polar and Cartesian coordinates discussed in the preceding section is given by x = r cos θ and y = r sin θ. Similarly, it is possible to accomplish transformations between rectangular and oblique coordinates.

In a translation of Cartesian coordinate axes, a transformation is made between two sets of axes that are parallel to each other but have their origins at different positions. If a point P has coordinates (x, y) in one system, its coordinates in the second system are given by (xh, yk) where (h, k) is the origin of the second system in terms of the first coordinate system. Thus, the transformation of P between the first system (x, y) and the second system (x′, y′) is given by the equations x = x′ + h and y = y′ + k. The common use of translations of axes is to simplify the equations of curves. For example, the equation 2x2 + y2 − 12x −2y + 17 = 0 can be simplified with the translations x′ = x − 3 and y′ = y − 1 to an equation involving only squares of the variables and a constant term: (x′)2 + (y′)2/2 = 1. In other words, the curve represents an ellipse with its centre at the point (3, 1) in the original coordinate system.

A rotation of coordinate axes is one in which a pair of axes giving the coordinates of a point (x, y) rotate through an angle ϕ to give a new pair of axes in which the point has coordinates (x′, y′), as shown in the figure. The transformation equations for such a rotation are given by x = x′ cos ϕ − y′ sin ϕ and y = x′ sin ϕ + y′ cos ϕ. The application of these formulas with ϕ = 45° to the difference of squares, x2y2 = a2, leads to the equation xy′ = c (where c is a constant that depends on the value of a). This equation gives the form of the rectangular hyperbola when its asymptotes (the lines that a curve approaches without ever quite meeting) are used as the coordinate axes.

Raymond Walter BarnardThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
{"found_math": false, "script_math_tex": 0, "script_math_asciimath": 0, "math_annotations": 0, "math_alttext": 0, "mathml": 0, "mathjax_tag": 0, "mathjax_inline_tex": 0, "mathjax_display_tex": 0, "mathjax_asciimath": 0, "img_math": 0, "codecogs_latex": 0, "wp_latex": 0, "mimetex.cgi": 0, "/images/math/codecogs": 0, "mathtex.cgi": 0, "katex": 0, "math-container": 0, "wp-katex-eq": 0, "align": 0, "equation": 0, "x-ck12": 0, "texerror": 0}