Malorie's Blog

11.1 Polar

In this section we learned how to convert polar to rectangular and how to convert polar to rectangular. To do this, you must know the following formulas:
to convert to rectangular--x=rcos(theta) y=rsin(theta)
to convert to polar--r=square root of x^2 + y^2 tan(theta)= y/x

(r,(theta)) - polar form
(x,y) - rectangular

Example 1:

Give the polar point for (1,1)

r=square root of 1^2 + 1^2 = 1
*first you use the polar formula

tan(theta)= 1/1 = 1
*use tan(theta) y/x

theta=tan^-1(1) = 45
*find the inverse

*because tan is positive, find where tan is positive on the trig chart.
it is positive in quadrant 1 and 3 so your answers are 45 and 225

Final answers: (1, 45) ; (-1, 225)