List of common coordinate transformations

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This is a list of some of the most commonly used coordinate transformations.

Let ${\displaystyle (x,y)}$ be the standard Cartesian coordinates, and ${\displaystyle (r,\theta )}$ the standard polar coordinates.

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=r\cos \theta \\y&=r\sin \theta \\[5pt]{\frac {\partial (x,y)}{\partial (r,\theta )}}&={\begin{bmatrix}\cos \theta &-r\sin \theta \\\sin \theta &{\phantom {-}}r\cos \theta \end{bmatrix}}\\[5pt]{\text{Jacobian}}=\det {\frac {\partial (x,y)}{\partial (r,\theta )}}&=r\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=e^{\rho }\cos \theta ,\\y&=e^{\rho }\sin \theta .\end{aligned}}}$$

By using complex numbers ${\displaystyle (x,y)=x+iy'}$, the transformation can be written as $${\displaystyle x+iy=e^{\rho +i\theta }}$$

That is, it is given by the complex exponential function.

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=a{\frac {\sinh \tau }{\cosh \tau -\cos \sigma }}\\y&=a{\frac {\sin \sigma }{\cosh \tau -\cos \sigma }}\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&={\frac {1}{4c}}\left(r_{1}^{2}-r_{2}^{2}\right)\\[1ex]y&=\pm {\frac {1}{4c}}{\sqrt {16c^{2}r_{1}^{2}-\left(r_{1}^{2}-r_{2}^{2}+4c^{2}\right)^{2}}}\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=\int \cos \left[\int \kappa (s)\,ds\right]ds\\y&=\int \sin \left[\int \kappa (s)\,ds\right]ds\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}r&={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}\\\theta '&=\arctan \left|{\frac {y}{x}}\right|\end{aligned}}}$$ Note: solving for ${\displaystyle \theta '}$ returns the resultant angle in the first quadrant (${\textstyle 0<\theta <{\frac {\pi }{2}}}$). To find ${\displaystyle \theta ,}$ one must refer to the original Cartesian coordinate, determine the quadrant in which ${\displaystyle \theta }$ lies (for example, (3,-3) [Cartesian] lies in QIV), then use the following to solve for ${\displaystyle \theta :}$

$${\displaystyle \theta ={\begin{cases}\theta '&{\text{for }}\theta '{\text{ in QI: }}&0<\theta '<{\frac {\pi }{2}}\\[1.2ex]\pi -\theta '&{\text{for }}\theta '{\text{ in QII: }}&{\frac {\pi }{2}}<\theta '<\pi \\[1.2ex]\pi +\theta '&{\text{for }}\theta '{\text{ in QIII: }}&\pi <\theta '<{\frac {3\pi }{2}}\\[1.2ex]2\pi -\theta '&{\text{for }}\theta '{\text{ in QIV: }}&{\frac {3\pi }{2}}<\theta '<2\pi \end{cases}}}$$

The value for ${\displaystyle \theta }$ must be solved for in this manner because for all values of ${\displaystyle \theta }$, ${\displaystyle \tan \theta }$ is only defined for ${\textstyle -{\frac {\pi }{2}}<\theta <+{\frac {\pi }{2}}}$, and is periodic (with period ${\displaystyle \pi }$). This means that the inverse function will only give values in the domain of the function, but restricted to a single period. Hence, the range of the inverse function is only half a full circle.

Note that one can also use $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}r&={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}\\\theta '&=2\arctan {\frac {y}{x+r}}\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}r&={\sqrt {\frac {r_{1}^{2}+r_{2}^{2}-2c^{2}}{2}}}\\\theta &=\arctan \left[{\sqrt {{\frac {8c^{2}(r_{1}^{2}+r_{2}^{2}-2c^{2})}{r_{1}^{2}-r_{2}^{2}}}-1}}\right]\end{aligned}}}$$

Where 2c is the distance between the poles.

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\rho &=\log {\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}},\\\theta &=\arctan {\frac {y}{x}}.\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\kappa &={\frac {x'y''-y'x''}{\left({x'}^{2}+{y'}^{2}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}}}\\s&=\int _{a}^{t}{\sqrt {{x'}^{2}+{y'}^{2}}}\,dt\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\kappa &={\frac {r^{2}+2{r'}^{2}-rr''}{(r^{2}+{r'}^{2})^{\frac {3}{2}}}}\\s&=\int _{a}^{\varphi }{\sqrt {r^{2}+{r'}^{2}}}\,d\varphi \end{aligned}}}$$

Let (x, y, z) be the standard Cartesian coordinates, and (r, th, ph) the spherical coordinates, with th the angle measured away from the +Z axis (as illustrated). As ph has a range of 360deg the same considerations as in polar (2 dimensional) coordinates apply whenever an arctangent of it is taken. th has a range of 180deg, running from 0deg to 180deg, and does not pose any problem when calculated from an arccosine, but beware for an arctangent.

If, in the alternative definition, th is chosen to run from -90deg to +90deg, in opposite direction of the earlier definition, it can be found uniquely from an arcsine, but beware of an arccotangent. In this case in all formulas below all arguments in th should have sine and cosine exchanged, and as derivative also a plus and minus exchanged.

All divisions by zero result in special cases of being directions along one of the main axes and are in practice most easily solved by observation.

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=\rho \,\sin \theta \cos \varphi \\y&=\rho \,\sin \theta \sin \varphi \\z&=\rho \,\cos \theta \\{\frac {\partial (x,y,z)}{\partial (\rho ,\theta ,\varphi )}}&={\begin{pmatrix}\sin \theta \cos \varphi &\rho \cos \theta \cos \varphi &-\rho \sin \theta \sin \varphi \\\sin \theta \sin \varphi &\rho \cos \theta \sin \varphi &\rho \sin \theta \cos \varphi \\\cos \theta &-\rho \sin \theta &0\end{pmatrix}}\end{aligned}}}$$

So for the volume element: $${\displaystyle dx\,dy\,dz=\det {\frac {\partial (x,y,z)}{\partial (\rho ,\theta ,\varphi )}}\,d\rho \,d\theta \,d\varphi =\rho ^{2}\sin \theta \,d\rho \,d\theta \,d\varphi }$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x&=r\,\cos \theta \\y&=r\,\sin \theta \\z&=z\,\\{\frac {\partial (x,y,z)}{\partial (r,\theta ,z)}}&={\begin{pmatrix}\cos \theta &-r\sin \theta &0\\\sin \theta &r\cos \theta &0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}\end{aligned}}}$$

So for the volume element: $${\displaystyle dV=dx\,dy\,dz=\det {\frac {\partial (x,y,z)}{\partial (r,\theta ,z)}}\,dr\,d\theta \,dz=r\,dr\,d\theta \,dz}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\rho &={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}}\\\theta &=\arctan \left({\frac {\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}{z}}\right)=\arccos \left({\frac {z}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}}}\right)\\\varphi &=\arctan \left({\frac {y}{x}}\right)=\arccos \left({\frac {x}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}\right)=\arcsin \left({\frac {y}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}\right)\\{\frac {\partial \left(\rho ,\theta ,\varphi \right)}{\partial \left(x,y,z\right)}}&={\begin{pmatrix}{\frac {x}{\rho }}&{\frac {y}{\rho }}&{\frac {z}{\rho }}\\{\frac {xz}{\rho ^{2}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}}&{\frac {yz}{\rho ^{2}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}}&-{\frac {\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}{\rho ^{2}}}\\{\frac {-y}{x^{2}+y^{2}}}&{\frac {x}{x^{2}+y^{2}}}&0\\\end{pmatrix}}\end{aligned}}}$$

See also the article on atan2 for how to elegantly handle some edge cases.

So for the element: $${\displaystyle d\rho \,d\theta \,d\varphi =\det {\frac {\partial (\rho ,\theta ,\varphi )}{\partial (x,y,z)}}\,dx\,dy\,dz={\frac {1}{{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}}}}\,dx\,dy\,dz}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\rho &={\sqrt {r^{2}+h^{2}}}\\\theta &=\arctan {\frac {r}{h}}\\\varphi &=\varphi \\{\frac {\partial (\rho ,\theta ,\varphi )}{\partial (r,h,\varphi )}}&={\begin{pmatrix}{\frac {r}{\sqrt {r^{2}+h^{2}}}}&{\frac {h}{\sqrt {r^{2}+h^{2}}}}&0\\{\frac {h}{r^{2}+h^{2}}}&{\frac {-r}{r^{2}+h^{2}}}&0\\0&0&1\\\end{pmatrix}}\\\det {\frac {\partial (\rho ,\theta ,\varphi )}{\partial (r,h,\varphi )}}&={\frac {1}{\sqrt {r^{2}+h^{2}}}}\end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}r&={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}\\\theta &=\arctan {\left({\frac {y}{x}}\right)}\\z&=z\quad \end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial (r,\theta ,h)}{\partial (x,y,z)}}={\begin{pmatrix}{\frac {x}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}&{\frac {y}{\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}&0\\{\frac {-y}{x^{2}+y^{2}}}&{\frac {x}{x^{2}+y^{2}}}&0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}r&=\rho \sin \varphi \\h&=\rho \cos \varphi \\\theta &=\theta \\{\frac {\partial (r,h,\theta )}{\partial (\rho ,\varphi ,\theta )}}&={\begin{pmatrix}\sin \varphi &\rho \cos \varphi &0\\\cos \varphi &-\rho \sin \varphi &0\\0&0&1\\\end{pmatrix}}\\\det {\frac {\partial (r,h,\theta )}{\partial (\rho ,\varphi ,\theta )}}&=-\rho \end{aligned}}}$$

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}s&=\int _{0}^{t}{\sqrt {{x'}^{2}+{y'}^{2}+{z'}^{2}}}\,dt\\[3pt]\kappa &={\frac {\sqrt {\left(z''y'-y''z'\right)^{2}+\left(x''z'-z''x'\right)^{2}+\ left(y''x'-x''y'\right)^{2}}}{\left({x'}^{2}+{y'}^{2}+{z'}^{ 2}\right)^{\frac {3}{2}}}}\\[3pt]\tau &={\frac {x'''\left(y'z''-y''z'\right)+y'''\left(x''z'-x'z''\right)+z'''\left(x'y''-x''y'\right)}{{\left(x'y''-x''y'\right)}^{2}+{\left(x''z'-x'z''\right)}^{2}+{\left(y'z''-y''z'\right)}^{2}}}\end{aligned}}}$$

• Geographic coordinate conversion
• Transformation matrix

• Arfken, George (2013). Mathematical Methods for Physicists. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0123846549.

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