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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,
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/PolarCoordinates.aspx
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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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PaulsOnlineNotes:CalculusIIPolarCoordinates
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.
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/PolarCoordinates.aspx
.
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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.
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/PolarCoordinates.aspx
.
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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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