Polar Coordinates

Polar Coordinates

Polar Coordinates locate a point on a map or graph by how far away, and at what angle:

coordinates polar 13 at 22.6 degrees
The point is 13 units away at 22.6°

Cartesian Coordinates

Compare that to Cartesian Coordinates where we locate a point by how far along and how far up it is:

graph with point (12,5)
The point (12,5) is 12 units along, and 5 units up.

Want to dive deeper? Check out how to convert between Polar and Cartesian Coordinates.

Interactive Cartesian Coordinates Cartesian Coordinates Graphs Index Geometry Index