Pre-Calculus All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 16

Warming Up to Polar Coordinates

IN THIS CHAPTER

Picturing polar coordinates

Changing from polar coordinates to rectangular and vice versa

Graphing polar equations

Polar coordinates and polar graphs are two interesting but often neglected topics in a standard study of pre-calculus. In this chapter, you’ll be introduced to the basics and given enough tools to allow you to work in both applications.

Polar coordinates and graphs do just what their names imply: Coordinates go around the pole (which you’ll recognize as the origin from previous graphing), and polar graphing involves equations that are tied to angles and trig functions. A whole new world awaits you.

In this chapter, you move from rectangular coordinates to polar coordinates. You see where they come from and how you use them (as well as graph them).

Plotting around a Pole: Polar Coordinates

Polar coordinates are an extremely useful addition to your mathematics tool kit because they allow you to solve problems that would be extremely difficult if you were to rely on standard x- and y-coordinates. For example, you can use polar coordinates on problems where the relationship between two quantities is most easily ...