Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Polar Coordinates #4

In the coordinate (r, theta), r stands for the radius. If theta>0, then you rotate counterclockwise. If theta<0, then you rotate clockwise. When converting from polar (r, theta) to rectangular (x,y), substitute x=rcostheta and y=rsintheta. When converting from rectangular to polar, substitute r^2=x^2+y^2 and tan(theta)=y/x. For both of these conversions, solve for x or r. Trig identities are also key to this process.

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