Polar, Cylindrical, and Spherical Coordinates

1. (a) In polar coordinates, what shapes are described by r = k and = k, where k is a constant?
Solution. r = k describes a circle of radius k centered at the origin.
= k describes a ray from the origin which makes an angle of when measured counter-clockwise
from the x-axis.

(b) Draw r = 0, r =
2
3
, r =
4
3
, r = 2, = 0, =
2
3
, and =
4
3
on the following axes. (Why
cant we draw = 2?)
Solution. Here is the picture, with r = constant curves drawn in blue and = constant drawn
in red. We only allow to be in [0, 2), so we cant actually have = 2.
2 2
x
2
2
y
(c) On the axes in (b), sketch the curve with polar equation r = .
Solution. The curve is a spiral starting from (x, y) = (0, 0). Notice that it does not actually
contain the point (x, y) = (2, 0), since cannot actually equal 2.
1
2 2
x
2
2
y
2. In cylindrical coordinates, what shapes are described by r = k, = k, and z = k, where k is a constant?
Solution. r = k describes a cylinder of radius k centered around the z-axis.
= k describes a vertical half-plane whose intersection with the plane z = 0 is just the ray = k in
polar coordinates.
z = k describes a plane parallel to the xy-plane.
3. In spherical coordinates, what shapes are described by = k, = k, and = k, where k is a constant?
Solution. = k describes a sphere of radius k centered at the origin.
= k describes exactly the same thing as it does in cylindrical coordinates. (After all, means the
same thing in both coordinate systems.)
= k describes a half-cone. (Remember that the quadric surface that we call a cone actually opens
in two directions. A half-cone is what we typically think of as a cone; it opens only in one direction.)
For instance, here are pictures of =

6
and =
5
6
.
x
y
z
x
y
z
=

6
=
5
6
4. (a) In cylindrical coordinates, lets look at the surface r = 5. What does z = k look like on this
surface? How about = k? (k is a constant.)
Solution. The surface r = 5 is a cylinder of radius 5 centered about the z-axis. On this surface,
each curve z = k is a circle (shown in red), and each curve = k is a vertical line (shown in blue):
2
x
y
z
(b) In spherical coordinates, lets look at the surface = 5. What does = k look like on this surface?
How about = k?
Solution. The surface = 5 is a sphere of radius 5 centered about the origin. On this surface,
each curve = k is a half-circle running from the top point of the sphere to the bottom point. (If
you imagine the sphere as a globe, these are like lines of longitude.) These are shown in blue on
the picture. Each curve = k is a circle (these are like lines of latitude), and these are shown in
red.
x
y
z
5. Write the point (x, y, z) = (

6,

6, 2) in cylindrical and spherical coordinates.

Solution. To write the point in cylindrical coordinates, we essentially convert x =

6, y =

6 from
Cartesian coordinates to polar coordinates. Since x = r cos and y = r sin , we have r =

x
2
+ y
2
=
2

3 and tan =
y
x
= 1. Now, just knowing tan = 1 tells us that is either
3
4
or
7
4
. But
we also know that cos =
x
r
=

2
2
, so must be
7
4
. Thus, in cylindrical coordinates, the point is
(r, , z) =

3,
7
4
, 2

.
Next, we need to nd the point in spherical coordinates. We know that =

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 4 and
that tan =
r
z
=

3, so =
2
3
. So, in spherical coordinates, the point is (, , ) =

4,
7
4
,
2
3

.
6. Consider the surface whose equation in cylindrical coordinates is z = r. How could you describe this
surface in Cartesian coordinates? Spherical? Can you sketch the surface?
Solution. To write in Cartesian coordinates, we can use the fact that r =

x
2
+ y
2
, so z = r is the
3
same as z =

x
2
+ y
2
. This is the portion of z
2
= x
2
+ y
2
with z 0, so it is the top half of an
elliptic cone.
To write in spherical coordinates, remember that z = cos and r = sin , so this is the surface with
cos = sin . In order for this to be true, cos = sin , so tan = 1. Since 0 1, =

4
.
Here is the surface:
x
y
z
7. Most of the time, a single equation like 2x + 3y + 4z = 5 in Cartesian coordinates or = 1 in
spherical coordinates denes a surface. Can you nd examples in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical
coordinates where this is not the case?
Solution. In Cartesian coordinates, xyz = 0 is just the three coordinate axes. x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
= 0 is a
point.
In cylindrical coordinates, r = 0 is just the z-axis.
In spherical coordinates, = 0 is a single point, the origin. Also, = 0 is the non-negative portion of
the z-axis. If you have trouble visualizing this, you might want to change to Cartesian coordinates:
x = sin cos
y = sin sin
z = cos
When = 0, sin = 0 and cos = 1, so we have x = 0, y = 0, and z = .
Of course, these are not the only examples.
4