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.

---

polar axis British  

noun

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

---

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

By symmetry, the total area is twice the area above the polar axis.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

This point is also the only polar axis intercept.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

Perhaps the graph does cross the polar axis, but not at the pole.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

In considering the movements of our planet, we shall see that no great changes in the position of the polar axis can have taken place.

From Outlines of the Earth's History A Popular Study in Physiography by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler