To use polar coordinates to specify a point, enter a distance and an angle separated by an angle bracket (<). By default, angles increase in the counterclockwise direction and decrease in the clockwise direction. To specify a clockwise direction, enter a negative value for the angle.

How to: Given polar coordinates, convert to rectangular coordinates.

1. Given the polar coordinate (r,θ), write x=rcosθ and y=rsinθ.
2. Evaluate cosθ and sinθ.
3. Multiply cosθ by r to find the x-coordinate of the rectangular form.
4. Multiply sinθ by r to find the y-coordinate of the rectangular form.

In Cartesian coordinates there is exactly one set of coordinates for any given point. With polar coordinates this isn’t true. In polar coordinates there is literally an infinite number of coordinates for a given point. For instance, the following four points are all coordinates for the same point.

Polar coordinates are used often in navigation as the destination or direction of travel can be given as an angle and distance from the object being considered. For instance, aircraft use a slightly modified version of the polar coordinates for navigation.

Polar coordinates are used in animation, aviation, computer graphics, construction, engineering and the military.

Note: To turn polar tracking on or off temporarily, hold down the F10 key while you work. The direct distance entry method is not available while you are using the temporary override key for polar tracking.

To Display the Coordinates of a Point

1. Click Home tab Utilities panel ID Point. Find.
2. Click the location that you want to identify. The X,Y,Z coordinate values are displayed at the Command prompt. With object snaps turned on, you can select an object and see the coordinates for a feature such as an endpoint, midpoint, or center.

1. Open Google Earth.
2. At the top, click Tools. Options.
3. Click 3D View. Then, under “Show Lat/Long,” choose a display format.
4. Click OK. Coordinates will be displayed in the lower right corner.

The order in which you write x- and y-coordinates in an ordered pair is very important. The x-coordinate always comes first, followed by the y-coordinate. As you can see in the coordinate grid below, the ordered pairs (3,4) and (4,3) are two different points!

Latitude comes first in alphabetical order and it also is the first coordinate in a set. Longitude is the second coordinate in the set.

Both longitude and latitude are angles measured with the center of the earth as an origin. A longitude is an angle from the prime merdian, measured to the east (longitudes to the west are negative). Latitudes measure an angle up from the equator (latitudes to the south are negative).

What is the difference between Latitude and Longitude?

equator

Equator

The ratio of actual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration provides the aridity index. The 100th meridian runs from pole to pole, 100 degrees longitude west of the prime meridian in Greenwich, England.

Longitude

The horizontal lines are called lines of latitude and the vertical lines are called lines of longitude. The equator is located at 0 degrees latitude with the North Pole at the top of the Earth, 90 degrees North and the South Pole at the bottom, 90 degrees South.

Longitude is measured by imaginary lines that run around the Earth vertically (up and down) and meet at the North and South Poles. These lines are known as meridians. Each meridian measures one arcdegree of longitude.