Polar coordinates

From Glossary of Meteorology



polar coordinates

  1. In the plane, a system of curvilinear coordinates in which a point is located by its distance r from the origin (or pole) and by the angle θ which a line joining the given point and the origin makes with a fixed reference line, called the polar axis.

    The relations between rectangular Cartesian coordinates and polar coordinates are
    ams2001glos-Pe25
    where the origins of the two systems coincide and the polar axis coincides with the x axis.

  2. In space,
    same as spherical coordinates.



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