Coordinate System - Polar Coordinate System

Another common coordinate system for the plane is the Polar coordinate system. A point is chosen as the pole and a ray from this point is taken as the polar axis. For a given angle θ, there is a single line through the pole whose angle with the polar axis is θ (measured counterclockwise from the axis to the line). Then there is a unique point on this line whose signed distance from the origin is r for given number r. For a given pair of coordinates (r, θ) there is a single point, but any point is represented by many pairs of coordinates. For example (r, θ), (r, θ+2π) and (−r, θ+π) are all polar coordinates for the same point. The pole is represented by (0, θ) for any value of θ.

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Famous quotes containing the words polar and/or system:

    Professor Fate: My apologies. There’s a polar bear in our car.
    Arthur Ross. Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)

    Whoever places his trust into a system will soon be without a home. While you are building your third story, the two lower ones have already been dismantled.
    Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)