polar axis

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. the fixed line, usually horizontal, from which the angle made by the radius vector is measured in a polar coordinate system.

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polar axis British  

noun

1. the fixed line in a system of polar coordinates from which the polar angle, θ, is measured anticlockwise

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Etymology

Origin of polar axis

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

polar axis

It’s about the fact that the Lotus’s polar axis runs exactly through the driver’s inboard hip, so that the machine rotates around them and not some invisible pivot point, just off-center.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

The graph of this equation exhibits symmetry with respect to the polar axis.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

The polar grid is scaled as the unit circle with the positive x-axis now viewed as the polar axis and the origin as the pole.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

If the directrix of a conic section is perpendicular to the polar axis, what do we know about the equation of the graph?

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

The parts of the telescope which are moved by the driving-clock weigh about 100 tons, and it was necessary to provide means of reducing the great friction on the bearings of the polar axis.

From The New Heavens by George Ellery Hale