9.

3 Polar Coordinates
One way to give someone directions is to tell them to
go three blocks East and five blocks South.
Another way to give directions is to point and say “Go a
half mile in that direction.”
Polar graphing is like the second method of giving
directions. Each point is determined by a distance and
an angle.

r A polar coordinate pair

  r , 
Initial ray determines the location of
a point.
 Polar Coordinates
To define the Polar Coordinates of a plane we need first to fix a point
which will be called the Pole (or the origin) and a half-line starting
from the pole. This half-line is called the Polar Axis.

P(r, θ) Polar Angles

The Polar Angle θ of a point P, P ≠ pole, is the
r angle between the Polar Axis and the line
θ connecting the point P to the pole. Positive values
Polar Axis of the angle indicate angles measured in the
counterclockwise direction from the Polar Axis.
A positive angle.

Polar Coordinates The Polar Coordinates (r,θ) of the point P,

P ≠ pole, consist of the distance r of the point P from the Pole and of
the Polar Angle θ of the point P. Every (0, θ) represents the pole.
More than one coordinate pair can refer to the same point.

2
 2,30 
o

210 o 30 o
  2, 210 o

150o
  2, 150 o


All of the polar coordinates of this point are:

 2,30 o
 n  360 o

 2, 150 o
 n  360 o
 n  0,  1,  2 ...
 The connection between
Polar and Cartesian coordinates
(x,y) From the right angle triangle in the picture
one immediately gets the following
r correspondence between the Cartesian
y
θ Coordinates (x,y) and the Polar Coordinates
(r,θ) assuming the Pole of the Polar
x Coordinates is the Origin of the Cartesian
Coordinates and the Polar Axis is the positive
x-axis.

x = r cos(θ) r2 = x2 + y2
y = r sin(θ) tan(θ) = y/x

Using these equations one can easily switch between the

Cartesian and the Polar Coordinates.
 Polar Curves
Definition A Polar Curve consists of all the points (r,θ) satisfying
a given equation
F(r,θ) = 0.
Often one can solve r form the equation and
represent the polar curve in the form
r = f(θ)

Some curves are easier to describe with polar coordinates:

r a (Circle centered at the origin)

  o (Line through the origin)

 Examples of Polar Curves

Symmetry with respect to x-axis: If (r, ) is on the graph,

so is (r, -).

r  2cos r



0 1 2

r
-1
 Examples of Polar Curves
Symmetry with respect to y-axis: If (r, ) is on the graph,
so is (r, -) or (-r, -).

r  2sin
r 1
r

  
-1 0 1


 Examples of Polar Curves

1
1

0 1 2 3 4
-2 -1 0 1 2
-1

-1 -2

-2

r  2cos  2  r  2 1  cos 
 Examples of Polar Curves

r  2sin  2.15 
0    16