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

Find the area of the region D bounded by the polar axis and the upper half of the cardioid r = 1 + cos θ.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

For the following exercises, convert the equation from rectangular to polar form and graph on the polar axis.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

We can also define a conic in terms of a fixed point, the focus at the pole, and a line, the directrix, which is perpendicular to the polar axis.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

The polar axis of the Crossley reflector is a long, hollow cylinder, separated by a space of about one-eighth of an inch from its concentric casing.

From Photographs of Nebul? and Clusters Made with the Crossley Reflector by Keeler, James Edward