polar coordinate system
Americannoun
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A system of coordinates in which the location of a point is determined by its distance from a fixed point at the center of the coordinate space (called the pole) and by the measurement of the angle formed by a fixed line (the polar axis, corresponding to the x-axis in Cartesian coordinates) and a line from the pole through the given point. The polar coordinates of a point are given as (r, θ), where r is the distance of the point from the pole, and θ is the measure of the angle.
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Compare Cartesian coordinate system
Example Sentences
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Eventually she leads us toward more abstract concepts such as the polar coordinate system, a graphical approach to defining a point using distance and angle, as well as irrational numbers and decimals that repeat infinitely.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 20, 2023
Figure 7.29 Three points plotted in the polar coordinate system.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
The polar coordinate system provides an alternative way to locate points in the plane.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Each of these orbits can be modeled by a conic section in the polar coordinate system.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
To graph in the polar coordinate system we construct a table of and values.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
