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PaulsOnlineNotes:CalculusIIPolarCoordinates

PolarCoordinates
UptothispointwevedealtexclusivelywiththeCartesian(orRectangular,orxy)coordinate
system.However,aswewillsee,thisisnotalwaystheeasiestcoordinatesystemtoworkin.So,in
thissectionwewillstartlookingatthepolarcoordinatesystem.

Coordinatesystemsarereallynothingmorethanawaytodefineapointinspace.Forinstanceinthe
Cartesiancoordinatesystematpointisgiventhecoordinates(x,y)andweusethistodefinethepoint
bystartingattheoriginandthenmovingxunitshorizontallyfollowedbyyunitsvertically.Thisis
showninthesketchbelow.

Thisisnot,however,theonlywaytodefineapointintwodimensionalspace.Insteadofmoving
verticallyandhorizontallyfromtheorigintogettothepointwecouldinsteadgostraightoutofthe
originuntilwehitthepointandthendeterminetheanglethislinemakeswiththepositivexaxis.
Wecouldthenusethedistanceofthepointfromtheoriginandtheamountweneededtorotatefrom
thepositivexaxisasthecoordinatesofthepoint.Thisisshowninthesketchbelow.

Coordinatesinthisformarecalledpolarcoordinates.

Theabovediscussionmayleadonetothinkthatrmustbeapositivenumber.However,wealso
allowrtobenegative.Belowisasketchofthetwopoints
and
.

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Fromthissketchwecanseethatifrispositivethepointwillbeinthesamequadrantas.Onthe
otherhandifrisnegativethepointwillendupinthequadrantexactlyopposite.Noticeaswell
thatthecoordinates
describethesamepointasthecoordinates
do.Thecoordinates
tellsustorotateanangleof fromthepositivexaxis,thiswouldputusonthedashedline
inthesketchabove,andthenmoveoutadistanceof2.

ThisleadstoanimportantdifferencebetweenCartesiancoordinatesandpolarcoordinates.In
Cartesiancoordinatesthereisexactlyonesetofcoordinatesforanygivenpoint.Withpolar
coordinatesthisisnttrue.Inpolarcoordinatesthereisliterallyaninfinitenumberofcoordinatesfor
agivenpoint.Forinstance,thefollowingfourpointsareallcoordinatesforthesamepoint.

Hereisasketchoftheanglesusedinthesefoursetsofcoordinates.

Inthesecondcoordinatepairwerotatedinaclockwisedirectiontogettothepoint.Weshouldnt
forgetaboutrotatingintheclockwisedirection.Sometimesitswhatwehavetodo.

Thelasttwocoordinatepairsusethefactthatifweendupintheoppositequadrantfromthepoint
wecanuseanegativertogetbacktothepointandofcoursethereisbothacounterclockwiseanda
clockwiserotationtogettotheangle.

Thesefourpointsonlyrepresentthecoordinatesofthepointwithoutrotatingaroundthesystem
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morethanonce.Ifweallowtheangletomakeasmanycompleterotationsabouttheaxissystemas
wewantthenthereareaninfinitenumberofcoordinatesforthesamepoint.Infactthepoint
canberepresentedbyanyofthefollowingcoordinatepairs.

Nextweshouldtalkabouttheoriginofthecoordinatesystem.Inpolarcoordinatestheoriginis
oftencalledthepole.Becausewearentactuallymovingawayfromtheorigin/poleweknowthat
.However,wecanstillrotatearoundthesystembyanyanglewewantandsothecoordinates
oftheorigin/poleare
.

Nowthatwevegotagrasponpolarcoordinatesweneedtothinkaboutconvertingbetweenthetwo
coordinatesystems.Wellstartoutwiththefollowingsketchremindingushowbothcoordinate
systemswork.

Notethatwevegotarighttriangleaboveandwiththatwecangetthefollowingequationsthatwill
convertpolarcoordinatesintoCartesiancoordinates.

PolartoCartesianConversionFormulas

ConvertingfromCartesianisalmostaseasy.Letsfirstnoticethefollowing.

Thisisaveryusefulformulathatweshouldremember,howeverweareafteranequationforrso
letstakethesquarerootofbothsides.Thisgives,

Notethattechnicallyweshouldhaveaplusorminusinfrontoftherootsinceweknowthatrcanbe
eitherpositiveornegative.Wewillrunwiththeconventionofpositiverhere.

Gettinganequationforisalmostassimple.Wellstartwith,

Takingtheinversetangentofbothsidesgives,

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Wewillneedtobecarefulwiththisbecauseinversetangentsonlyreturnvaluesintherange
.Recallthatthereisasecondpossibleangleandthatthesecondangleisgivenby
.

SummarizingthengivesthefollowingformulasforconvertingfromCartesiancoordinatestopolar
coordinates.

CartesiantoPolarConversionFormulas

Letsworkaquickexample.

Example1Converteachofthefollowingpointsintothegivencoordinatesystem.
(a)

intoCartesiancoordinates.[Solution]

(b)(1,1)intopolarcoordinates.[Solution]

Solution
(a)Convert

intoCartesiancoordinates.

Thisconversioniseasyenough.Allweneedtodoisplugthepointsintotheformulas.

So,inCartesiancoordinatesthispointis

.
[ReturntoProblems]

(b)Convert(1,1)intopolarcoordinates.

Letsfirstgetr.

Now,letsget.

Thisisnotthecorrectanglehowever.Thisvalueofisinthefirstquadrantandthepointweve
beengivenisinthethirdquadrant.Asnotedabovewecangetthecorrectanglebyaddingonto
this.Therefore,theactualangleis,

So,inpolarcoordinatesthepointis
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/PolarCoordinates.aspx

.Noteaswellthatwecouldhaveusedthefirstthat
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wegotbyusinganegativer.Inthiscasethepointcouldalsobewritteninpolarcoordinatesas
.
[ReturntoProblems]

Wecanalsousetheaboveformulastoconvertequationsfromonecoordinatesystemtotheother.

Example2Converteachofthefollowingintoanequationinthegivencoordinatesystem.
(a)Convert
intopolarcoordinates.[Solution]
(b)Convert
intoCartesiancoordinates.[Solution]
Solution
(a)Convert
intopolarcoordinates.

Inthiscasetherereallyisntmuchtodootherthanpluggingintheformulasforxandy(i.e.the
Cartesiancoordinates)intermsofrand (i.e.thepolarcoordinates).

[ReturntoProblems]

(b)Convert
intoCartesiancoordinates.

Thisoneisalittletrickier,butnotbymuch.Firstnoticethatwecouldsubstitutestraightforthe
r.However,thereisnostraightsubstitutionforthecosinethatwillgiveusonlyCartesian
coordinates.Ifwehadanrontherightalongwiththecosinethenwecoulddoadirect
substitution.So,ifanrontherightsidewouldbeconvenientletsputonethere,justdontforget
toputoneontheleftsideaswell.

WecannowmakesomesubstitutionsthatwillconvertthisintoCartesiancoordinates.

[ReturntoProblems]

Beforemovingontothenextsubjectletsdoalittlemoreworkonthesecondpartoftheprevious
example.

Theequationgiveninthesecondpartisactuallyafairlywellknowngraphitjustisntinaformthat
mostpeoplewillquicklyrecognize.ToidentifyitletstaketheCartesiancoordinateequationand
doalittlerearranging.

Now,completethesquareonthexportionoftheequation.

So,thiswasacircleofradius4andcenter(4,0).

Thisleadsusintothefinaltopicofthissection.

CommonPolarCoordinateGraphs
Letsidentifyafewofthemorecommongraphsinpolarcoordinates.Wellalsotakealookata
coupleofspecialpolargraphs.
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Lines
Somelineshavefairlysimpleequationsinpolarcoordinates.

.
WecanseethatthisisalinebyconvertingtoCartesiancoordinatesasfollows

Thisisalinethatgoesthroughtheoriginandmakesanangleofwiththepositivexaxis.
Or,inotherwordsitisalinethroughtheoriginwithslopeof
.
2.
ThisiseasyenoughtoconverttoCartesiancoordinatesto

.So,thisisaverticalline.

3.
Likewise,thisconvertsto

Example3Graph

and

andsoisahorizontalline.
onthesameaxissystem.

Solution
Therereallyisnttoomuchtothisoneotherthandoingthegraphsohereitis.

Circles
Letstakealookattheequationsofcirclesinpolarcoordinates.
1.
.
Thisequationissayingthatnomatterwhatanglewevegotthedistancefromtheoriginmust
bea.Ifyouthinkaboutitthatisexactlythedefinitionofacircleofradiusacenteredatthe
origin.
So,thisisacircleofradiusacenteredattheorigin.Thisisalsooneofthereasonswhywe
mightwanttoworkinpolarcoordinates.Theequationofacirclecenteredattheoriginhasa
veryniceequation,unlikethecorrespondingequationinCartesiancoordinates.
2.
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Welookedataspecificexampleofoneofthesewhenwewereconvertingequationsto
Cartesiancoordinates.
Thisisacircleofradius andcenter

.Notethatamightbenegative(asitwasinour

exampleabove)andsotheabsolutevaluebarsarerequiredontheradius.Theyshouldnotbe
usedhoweveronthecenter.
3.

4.

.
Thisissimilartothepreviousone.Itisacircleofradius andcenter

.
Thisisacombinationoftheprevioustwoandbycompletingthesquaretwiceitcanbeshown

thatthisisacircleofradius
andcenter
.Inotherwords,thisisthegeneral
equationofacirclethatisntcenteredattheorigin.

Example4Graph
,
,and
onthesameaxissystem.

Solution
Thefirstoneisacircleofradius7centeredattheorigin.Thesecondisacircleofradius2
centeredat(2,0).Thethirdisacircleofradius centeredat

.Hereisthegraphofthe

threeequations.

foracompletegraphof
anditonlytakesarangeof
tographtheothercirclesgivenhere.

CardioidsandLimacons
Thesecanbebrokenupintothefollowingthreecases.

Cardioids:
and
.
Thesehaveagraphthatisvaguelyheartshapedandalwayscontaintheorigin.

Notethatittakesarangeof

1.
2.

Limaconswithaninnerloop:
and
with
Thesewillhaveaninnerloopandwillalwayscontaintheorigin.

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.
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3.

Limaconswithoutaninnerloop:
and
with
.
Thesedonothaveaninnerloopanddonotcontaintheorigin.

Example5Graph
,
,and
.
Solution
Thesewillallgraphoutonceintherange
.Hereisatableofvaluesforeachfollowed
bygraphsofeach.

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Thereisonefinalthingthatweneedtodointhissection.Inthethirdgraphinthepreviousexample
wehadaninnerloop.Wewill,onoccasion,needtoknowthevalueofforwhichthegraphwill
passthroughtheorigin.Tofindtheseallweneedtodoissettheequationequaltozeroandsolveas
follows,

SurfaceAreawithParametric
Equations

CalculusIINotes

TangentswithPolarCoordinates

OnlineNotes/CalculusII(Notes)/ParametricEquationsandPolarCoordinates/PolarCoordinates

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