Math Insight

Cylindrical coordinates
Cylindrical coordinates are a simple extension of the two-dimensional polar coordinates to three dimensions. Recall that the
position of a point in the plane can be described using polar coordinates (r, ) . The polar coordinate r is the distance of the
point from the origin. The polar coordinate is the angle between the x-axis and the line segment from the origin to the
point. Polar coordinates are illustrated in the below figure and described more in another page.

Cylindrical coordinates simply combine the polar coordinates in the xy -plane with the usual z coordinate of Cartesian
coordinates. To form the cylindrical coordinates of a point P , simply project it down to a point Q in the xy -plane (see the
below figure). Then, take the polar coordinates (r, ) of the point Q, i.e., r is the distance from the origin to Q and is the
angle between the positive x-axis and the line segment from the origin to Q. The third cylindrical coordinate is the same as
the usual z-coordinate. It is the signed distance of the point P to the xy -plane (being negative is P is below the xy -plane).
The below figure illustrates the cylindrical coordinates (r, , z) of the point P .

You can further explore the properties of the cylindrical coordinates with the follow applet. You can observe how changing
the coordinates (r, , z) changes the position of the point P . Just as with polar coordinates, we usually limit 0 < 2
and r 0 to descrease the non-uniqueness of cylindrical coordinates. However, when r = 0 , there is a non-uniqueness
since the point P is on the z axis when r = 0 , independent of the value of .

Cylindrical coordinates. Given the values for cylindrical coordinates r, , and z, the large blue point shows the
corresponding position in Cartesian coordinates. You can change r, , and z using the sliders or by dragging the other
points shown. The red point is the projection of the large blue point in the xy -plane. This projection gives perspective
and helps in visualizing and r. The coordinate r is the length of the red line segment from the origin to the red point.
The coordinate is the angle the red line segment makes with the positive x-axis; it is the angle of the green portion of
the portion of the disk in the xy -plane. The coordinate z is the same as the z-coordinate of Cartesian coordinates; it is
the height of the purple point on the z-axis.

More information about applet.

See also
Polar coordinates
Spherical coordinates
Cartesian coordinates

Cite this as

Nykamp DQ, Cylindrical coordinates. From Math Insight. http://mathinsight.org/cylindrical_coordinates

Keywords: coordinate systems, cylindrical_coordinates

Cylindrical coordinates by Duane Q. Nykamp is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-

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