CARTESIAN, CYLINDRICAL

AND SPHERICAL
COORDINATE SYSTEM
 Coordinate System
oordinatSys
• Coordinates systems are often used to specify the position of a
point, but they may also be used to specify the position of more
complex figures such as lines, planes, circles or spheres.
• The choice of the coordinate system is based on the problem one
is studying.
• Certain problems are solved easily by using rectangular
coordinate systems whereas certain others are not.
• Some coordinate systems make more sense, make it easier to
describe a system.
• Coordinates give you a systematic way of naming the points in a
space.
1. CARTESIAN COORDINATES, (x,y,z)

• In two dimensions, we can • We can extend this to three -

specify a point on a plane dimensions, by adding a third
using two scalar values, scalar value z.
generally called x and y. z-axis

y-axis

P (x, y, z)
X Origin
P (x,y)

y-axis
Y
P’ (x, y, z)
x-axis
-∞ < x < ∞
Origin -∞ < y < ∞
x-axis
-∞ < z < ∞
• Note the coordinate values in the Cartesian system effectively represent the
distance from a plane intersecting the origin.
z z

3
3

2 P(2,3,3)
2 P(2,3,3)
3 unit
1
1
y
y 2 unit 1 1 2 3
1 1 2 3
2
2
3 unit
x
x

A vector in Cartesian coordinates can be written as (Ax, Ay, Az) or

Ax ax + Ay ay + Az az., Example , (2, -3, 4) or 2 ax - 3 ay + 4 az

The magnitude of A is | 𝑨|=√ 𝐴𝑥 + 𝐴 𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧

2 2 2
 z

(i) if x = 0, it indicates 2-dimensional y - z plane.

(ii) if y = 0, it indicates 2-dimensional x - z plane. y-z plane
(iii) If z = 0, it indicates 2-dimensional x - y plane. x=0
x-z plane
y=0
y
x-y plane
Z=0

x
2. CYLINDRICAL COORDINATES, (, , z)
A point P in cylindrical coordinates is represented as (, , z) where.
•  : the radius of the cylinder; radial displacement from the z-axis
•  : azimuthal angle or the angular displacement from x-axis
• z : vertical displacement z from the origin (as in the Cartesian system).
z

• The ranges of the coordinate variables ,  and z are

r
P (r, f, z)

• A vector A in Cylindrical coordinates can be written as

z

z
f • The magnitude of A is

x
Cylindrical coordinate at point P(3,60,4)

3
r
P (3, 60, 4)

60 z 4

x
Cylindrical Coordinates
3. SPHERICAL COORDINATES (r, , , )
Point P represented as (r,θ,φ), where,

• r : the distance from the origin,

• θ : called the colatitude is the angle between z-axis and vector of P,
• Φ : azimuthal angle or the angular displacement from x-axis (the same
azimuthal angle in cylindrical coordinates).

• The ranges of the coordinate variables r,  and  are

• A vector A in Spherical coordinates can be written as

• The magnitude of A is
Spherical coordinate at point P(3,45,60)
z

P(3,45,60
45
3

60

x
4. COORDINATE TRANSFORMATION
Sometimes, it is necessary to transform points and vectors from one coordinate system to
another. Combining the results of the two triangles allows us to write each coordinate set in
terms of each other

(i) CARTESIAN COORDINATE TO CYLINDRICAL COORDINATE (VICE VERSA)

The transformation between these two coordinate systems are easily obtained from figure below.

z
(a) Cartesian to cylindrical

P(x,y,z)) = P(r,f,z)

x r y (b) Cylindrical to Cartesian

f
y
x
 (ii) CARTESIAN COORDINATE TO SPHERICAL COORDINATE (VICE VERSA)

(c) Cartesian to spherical

z

P(x,y,z)) = P(r,q,f)
r
q
z

x r y
f (d) Spherical to cartesian
y

x
 (iii) CYLINDRICAL COORDINATE TO SPHERICAL COORDINATE (VICE VERSA)

(e) Spherical to cylindrical

z


P(x,y,z)) = P(r,f,z)
r
q
z

x r y
f (f) Cylindrical to spherical
y


 (a) Cartesian to cylindrical
Example 1

Express point P(3,4,5) from Cartesian to cylindrical

Solution

𝜌 =√ 𝑥 + 𝑦 = √ 3 + 4 =5
2 2 3 2

−1 𝑦 −1 4
=𝑡𝑎𝑛 =𝑡𝑎𝑛 =0.927 𝑟𝑎𝑑
𝑥 3
𝑧 =5
So, a point P (3, 4, 5) in Cartesian coordinate is the same as P ( 5, 0.927,5) in cylindrical
coordinate
 Example 2 (c) Cartesian to spherical

Express point P(-2,6,3) in spherical coordinate

Solution

=7

𝜃=cos ⁡
−1
[√ 𝑧
𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2+ 𝑧 2 ] −1
=cos ⁡ []
3
7
=64.62=1.127 𝑟𝑎𝑑

 P(-2,6,3) = P(7,1.127 rad,1.89 rad)

 Example 3 (b) Cylindrical to Cartesian

Convert (10, , -4) from Cylindrical to Cartesian.

Solution

𝜋
𝑥= 𝜌 cos =10 cos =5
3
𝜋
𝑦 = 𝜌 sin =10 𝑠𝑖𝑛 =8.77
3

𝑧 =− 4

 P (10, , -4) = P(5,8.77,-4)