Coordinate system
A coordinate system is a system of numbers used to uniquely determine the position of a point. For two-dimensional systems, the numbers (scalars) are in ordered pairs. More dimensions call for more numbers.
For example, (3) is one-dimensional, (1, 4) is two-dimensional, (1, 5, 9) is three-dimensional, (2, 6, 5, 3) is four-dimensional, and (5, 8, 9, 7, 9) is five-dimensional.
Coordinate System Media
The spherical coordinate system is commonly used in physics. It assigns three numbers (known as coordinates) to every point in Euclidean space: radial distance r, polar angle θ (theta), and azimuthal angle φ (phi). The symbol ρ (rho) is often used instead of r.
A number line with some integers labeled
Cylindrical coordinate system
Coordinate surfaces of the three-dimensional paraboloidal coordinates.
Related pages
- Analytic geometry
- Cartesian coordinate system
- Celestial coordinate system
- Polar coordinate system
- Spherical coordinate system