Calculus 081 Unit 10

POLAR COORDINATES
This unit corresponds to Sections 10.4 and 10.5 of Stewarts textbook.
Copyright c 2002 by the Department of Mathematics, University of Western Ontario.
A point P in the plane can be specied by its polar coordinates (r, ), where
r is the distance from the origin O to P, and is the angle between the
positive x-axis and the ray from O through P. We consider an angle to be
positive if it is measured in the counterclockwise direction from the positive
x-axis, and negative if it is measured in the clockwise direction.
Unlike Cartesian coordinates (x, y), polar coordinates are not uniquely
determined. For instance, (r, ) and (r, + 2) represent the same point.
Also, we allow r to be negative, so (r, ) and (r, + ) represent the same
point. And the origin is represented by (0, ) for any value of .
By basic trigonometry,
x = r cos , y = r sin ,
and
r
2
= x
2
+ y
2
, tan =
y
x
.
Example. The point with Cartesian coordinates (

3, 1) has r =
_

3
2
+ 1
2
=
2. One of its possible -values is = tan
1 1

3
=

6
, so this point has polar
coordinates (2,

6
), (2,
13
6
), (2,
11
6
), (2,
7
6
) and so on.
The point with polar coordinates (

2,
3
4
) has Cartesian coordinates x =

2 cos
3
4
= 1 and y =

2 sin
3
4
= 1.
The graph of a polar equation r = f(), or more generally F(r, ) = 0, con-
sists of all points that have at least one polar representation (r, ) satisfying
the equation.
Examples. (1) The graph of the equation r = 2 is the locus of all points in
the plane with distance 2 from the origin. This is of course a circle of radius
2 centred at the origin.
The graph of the equation =

4
is the diagonal line with Cartesian
equation y = x. Indeed, if =

4
, then x = r cos = r

2
2
= r sin = y, and r
and hence r

2
2
can take any real value.
1
(2) The equation r = , 0, describes a spiral (see Fig. 1). As
increases, we go around and around the origin and our distance from it
equals .
0
2pi
Figure 1: The spiral r = , 0.
(3) Consider the polar equation r = 2 cos . The corresponding Cartesian
equation is x = r cos = r
r
2
=
1
2
r
2
=
1
2
(x
2
+y
2
), which yields (x+1)
2
+y
2
= 1.
This is the equation of a circle of radius 1 centred at the point with Cartesian
coordinates (1, 0).
(4) To plot the graph of the polar equation r = sin 3, it is helpful to start
by drawing its graph in a Cartesian coordinate system with a horizontal -
axis and a vertical r-axis (see Fig. 2).
0
pi/3 2pi
theta
Figure 2: The graph of r = sin 3 in a Cartesian coordinate system.
To draw the polar graph, we move along the -axis in this graph at the
same time as we go around the origin in a second coordinate system, plotting
there the point with direction and distance r from the origin, where r is
read o the rst graph. We obtain a three-petalled ower(see Fig. 3). Note
that we only need to take from 0 to to get all three petals: after that, the
graph repeats itself. The downward bump on the graph in Fig. 2 between

3
and
2
3
corresponds to the same petal (the downward-pointing one) as the
upward bump between
4
3
and
5
3
.
Tangents to polar curves. To nd the slope of the graph of the polar
equation r = f(), we write
x = r cos = f() cos , y = r sin = f() sin ,
2
1
1
Figure 3: The graph of the polar equation r = sin 3.
and get
dy
dx
=
dy/d
dx/d
=
f

() sin + r cos
f

() cos r sin
.
Arc length. Let us nd a formula for the length of the polar curve r = f(),
a b, where f has a continuous rst derivative. From our study of
parametrized curves, we know that the length of the graph is
L =
_
b
a

_
dx
d
_
2
+
_
dy
d
_
2
d.
We have
_
dx
d
_
2
+
_
dy
d
_
2
=
_
d
d
(f() cos )
_
2
+
_
d
d
(f() sin )
_
2
=
_
f

() cos f() sin

_
2
+
_
f

() sin + f() cos

_
2
= f

()
2
+ f()
2
=
_
dr
d
_
2
+ r
2
,
so
L =
_
b
a

r
2
+
_
dr
d
_
2
d.
Example. The length of the spiral r = for 0 a is
L =
_
a
0

2
+ 1 d = (check!)
_
1
2

1 +
2
+
1
2
ln( +

1 +
2
)

a
0
=
1
2
a

1 + a
2
+
1
2
ln(a +

1 + a
2
).
3
Area. The area of the region bounded by the polar curve r = f() and
the rays = a and = b, where f is a positive continuous function and
0 < b a 2, is
A =
1
2
_
b
a
f()
2
d =
1
2
_
b
a
r
2
d.
Indeed, the part of the region spanned by a small angle d is nearly a circular
sector of radius r = f(), so its area is approximately
1
2
r
2
d. To get the total
area, we integrate this with respect to from a to b.
Examples. (1) The area of one petal of our three-petalled ower r = sin 3
is
A =
1
2
_
/3
0
sin
2
3 d =
1
6
_

0
sin
2
d ( = 3)
=
1
6
_
1
2

1
4
sin 2

0
=

12
(recall the antiderivative of the sine squared!). Here, we chose the petal in
the rst quadrant, which is traced as goes from 0 to

3
.
(2) Let us nd the area of the region inside the circle r = 3 cos and
outside the cardioid r = 1 + cos . We start by sketching the two graphs.
0
1
1 2 3
Figure 4: The the circle r = 3 cos and the cardioid r = 1 + cos .
At the two points of intersection, 3 cos = 1 +cos , that is cos =
1
2
, so
=

3
. Hence, the area in question is
A =
1
2
_
/3
/3
_
(outer radius)
2
(inner radius)
2
_
d
=
1
2
_
/3
/3
_
(3 cos )
2
(1 + cos )
2
_
d = = .
4