polar coordinate system A system of coordinates in which the location of a point is determined by its distance from a fixed point at the center of the coordinate space (called the pole) and by the measurement of the angle formed by a fixed line (the polar axis, corresponding to the x-axis in Cartesian coordinates) and a line from the pole through the given point. The polar coordinates of a point are given as ( r,  ), where r is the distance of the point from the pole, and is the measure of the angle. Compare Cartesian coordinate system. |
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