Polar Coordinates
converting (r, d) to (x, y)

Here's a point shown using polar coordinates. It would be labeled (r, d) or (4, 300°) for this point.

The point (x, y) can be located by finding the horizontal and vertical components of r. We can do that by substituting the radius and the degree (r, d) into the following formulas.
x = r * cos(d)
y = r * sin(d)
So we end up with;
x = 4 * cos(300) = 2
y = 4 * sin(300) = -3.46
As we can see, the point (4, 300°) in polar coordinates is equivalent to a point with the rectangular coordinates (2, -3.46)

x = r * cos(d)
y = r * sin(d)

Content by Michael Isaac, 2004 Original Graphics, & Design by Bill Willis 2001