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Spherical coordinate system

In mathematics, a spherical coordinate system is a coordinate
system for three-dimensional space where the position of a point is
specified by three numbers: the radial distance of that point from a
fixed origin, its polar angle measured from a fixed zenith direction,
and the azimuth angle of its orthogonal projection on a reference
plane that passes through the origin and is orthogonal to the zenith,
measured from a fixed reference direction on that plane. It can be
seen as the three-dimensional version of the polar coordinate
system.

The radial distance is also called the radius or radial coordinate.

The polar angle may be called colatitude, zenith angle, normal
Spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ) as
angle, or inclination angle.
commonly used in physics (ISO
convention): radial distance r, polar
The use of symbols and the order of the coordinates differs between
angle θ (theta), and azimuthal angle φ
sources. In one system frequently encountered in physics (r, θ, φ)
(phi). The symbol ρ (rho) is often used
gives the radial distance, polar angle, and azimuthal angle, whereas instead of r.
in another system used in many mathematics books (r, θ, φ) gives
the radial distance, azimuthal angle, and polar angle. In both
systems ρ is often used instead of r. Other conventions are also
used, so great care needs to be taken to check which one is being
used.

A number of different spherical coordinate systems following other

conventions are used outside mathematics. In a geographical
coordinate system positions are measured in latitude, longitude and
height or altitude. There are a number of different celestial
coordinate systems based on different fundamental planes and with
different terms for the various coordinates. The spherical coordinate
systems used in mathematics normally use radians rather than
degrees and measure the azimuthal angle counterclockwise from the Spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ) as often
x-axis to the y-axis rather than clockwise from north (0°) to east used in mathematics: radial distance r,
(+90°) like the horizontal coordinate system.[1] The polar angle is azimuthal angle θ, and polar angle φ.
The meanings of θ and φ have been
often replaced by the elevation angle measured from the reference
swapped compared to the physics
plane. Elevation angle of zero is at the horizon.
convention.

The spherical coordinate system generalises the two-dimensional

polar coordinate system. It can also be extended to higher-
dimensional spaces and is then referred to as a hyperspherical coordinate system.

Contents
Definition

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Conventions
Unique coordinates
Plotting

Applications
In geography
In astronomy

Coordinate system conversions

Cartesian coordinates
Cylindrical coordinates
Integration and differentiation in spherical coordinates
Kinematics
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links

Definition
To define a spherical coordinate system, one must choose two orthogonal directions, the zenith and the azimuth
reference, and an origin point in space. These choices determine a reference plane that contains the origin and is
perpendicular to the zenith. The spherical coordinates of a point P are then defined as follows:

The radius or radial distance is the Euclidean distance from the origin O to P.
The inclination (or polar angle) is the angle between the zenith direction and the line segment OP.
The azimuth (or azimuthal angle) is the signed angle measured from the azimuth reference direction to the
orthogonal projection of the line segment OP on the reference plane.
The sign of the azimuth is determined by choosing what is a positive sense of turning about the zenith. This choice
is arbitrary, and is part of the coordinate system's definition.

π
The elevation angle is 90 degrees ( 2 radians) minus the inclination angle.

If the inclination is zero or 180 degrees (π radians), the azimuth is arbitrary. If the radius is zero, both azimuth and
inclination are arbitrary.

In linear algebra, the vector from the origin O to the point P is often called the position vector of P.

Conventions
Several different conventions exist for representing the three coordinates, and for the order in which they should
be written. The use of (r, θ, φ) to denote radial distance, inclination (or elevation), and azimuth, respectively, is
common practice in physics, and is specified by ISO standard 80000-2:2009, and earlier in ISO 31-11 (1992).

However, some authors (including mathematicians) use φ for inclination (or elevation) and θ for azimuth, which
"provides a logical extension of the usual polar coordinates notation".[2] Some authors may also list the azimuth
before the inclination (or elevation), and/or use ρ (rho) instead of r for radial distance. Some combinations of these
choices result in a left-handed coordinate system. The standard convention (r, θ, φ) conflicts with the usual
notation for the two-dimensional polar coordinates, where θ is often used for the azimuth. It may also conflict with

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the notation used for three-dimensional cylindrical coordinates. [2]

The angles are typically measured in degrees (°) or radians (rad), where 360° = 2π rad. Degrees are most common
in geography, astronomy, and engineering, whereas radians are commonly used in mathematics and theoretical
physics. The unit for radial distance is usually determined by the context.

When the system is used for physical three-space, it is customary to use positive sign for azimuth angles that are
measured in the counter-clockwise sense from the reference direction on the reference plane, as seen from the
zenith side of the plane. This convention is used, in particular, for geographical coordinates, where the "zenith"
direction is north and positive azimuth (longitude) angles are measured eastwards from some prime meridian.

Major conventions

corresponding local geographical directions

coordinates right/left-handed
(Z, X, Y)
(r, θinc, φaz,right) (U, S, E) right

(r, φaz,right, θel) (U, E, N) right

(r, θel, φaz,right) (U, N, E) left

Note: easting (E), northing (N), upwardness (U). Local azimuth angle would be
measured, e.g., counterclockwise from S to E in the case of (U, S, E).

Unique coordinates
Any spherical coordinate triplet (r, θ, φ) specifies a single point of three-dimensional space. On the other hand,
every point has infinitely many equivalent spherical coordinates. One can add or subtract any number of full turns
to either angular measure without changing the angles themselves, and therefore without changing the point. It is
also convenient, in many contexts, to allow negative radial distances, with the convention that (−r, θ, φ) is
equivalent to (r, θ + 180°, φ) for any r, θ, and φ. Moreover, (r, −θ, φ) is equivalent to (r, θ, φ + 180°).

If it is necessary to define a unique set of spherical coordinates for each point, one must restrict their ranges. A
common choice is:

r≥0
0° ≤ θ ≤ 180° (π rad)
0° ≤ φ < 360° (2π rad)
However, the azimuth φ is often restricted to the interval (−180°, +180°], or (−π, +π] in radians, instead of
[0, 360°). This is the standard convention for geographic longitude.

The range [0°, 180°] for inclination is equivalent to [−90°, +90°] for elevation (latitude).

Even with these restrictions, if θ is 0° or 180° (elevation is 90° or −90°) then the azimuth angle is arbitrary; and if r
is zero, both azimuth and inclination/elevation are arbitrary. To make the coordinates unique, one can use the
convention that in these cases the arbitrary coordinates are zero.

Plotting
To plot a dot from its spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ), where θ is inclination, move r units from the origin in the
zenith direction, rotate by θ about the origin towards the azimuth reference direction, and rotate by φ about the

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zenith in the proper direction.

Applications
The geographic coordinate system uses the azimuth and elevation of the spherical coordinate system to express
locations on Earth, calling them respectively longitude and latitude. Just as the two-dimensional Cartesian
coordinate system is useful on the plane, a two-dimensional spherical coordinate system is useful on the surface of
a sphere. In this system, the sphere is taken as a unit sphere, so the radius is unity and can generally be ignored.
This simplification can also be very useful when dealing with objects such as rotational matrices.

Spherical coordinates are useful in analyzing systems that have some degree of symmetry about a point, such as
volume integrals inside a sphere, the potential energy field surrounding a concentrated mass or charge, or global
weather simulation in a planet's atmosphere. A sphere that has the Cartesian equation x2 + y2 + z2 = c2 has the
simple equation r = c in spherical coordinates.

Two important partial differential equations that arise in many physical problems, Laplace's equation and the
Helmholtz equation, allow a separation of variables in spherical coordinates. The angular portions of the solutions
to such equations take the form of spherical harmonics.

Another application is ergonomic design, where r is the arm length of a stationary person and the angles describe
the direction of the arm as it reaches out.

Three dimensional modeling of loudspeaker output patterns can be

used to predict their performance. A number of polar plots are
required, taken at a wide selection of frequencies, as the pattern
changes greatly with frequency. Polar plots help to show that many
loudspeakers tend toward omnidirectionality at lower frequencies.

The spherical coordinate system is also commonly used in 3D game

development to rotate the camera around the player's position.

In geography
To a first approximation, the geographic coordinate system uses
elevation angle (latitude) in degrees north of the equator plane, in the
range −90° ≤ φ ≤ 90°, instead of inclination. Latitude is either
geocentric latitude, measured at the Earth's center and designated
variously by ψ, q, φ′, φc, φg or geodetic latitude, measured by the The output pattern of an industrial
observer's local vertical, and commonly designated φ. The azimuth loudspeaker shown using spherical
polar plots taken at six frequencies
angle (longitude), commonly denoted by λ, is measured in degrees east
or west from some conventional reference meridian (most commonly
the IERS Reference Meridian), so its domain is −180° ≤ λ ≤ 180°. For positions on the Earth or other solid
celestial body, the reference plane is usually taken to be the plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

The polar angle, which is 90° minus the latitude and ranges from 0 to 180°, is called colatitude in geography.

Instead of the radial distance, geographers commonly use altitude above or below some reference surface, which
may be the sea level or "mean" surface level for planets without liquid oceans. The radial distance r can be
computed from the altitude by adding the mean radius of the planet's reference surface, which is approximately
6,360 ± 11 km (3,952 ± 7 miles) for Earth.

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However, modern geographical coordinate systems are quite complex, and the positions implied by these simple
formulae may be wrong by several kilometers. The precise standard meanings of latitude, longitude and altitude
are currently defined by the World Geodetic System (WGS), and take into account the flattening of the Earth at the
poles (about 21 km or 13 miles) and many other details.

In astronomy
In astronomy there are a series of spherical coordinate systems that measure the elevation angle from different
fundamental planes. These reference planes are the observer's horizon, the celestial equator (defined by Earth's
rotation), the plane of the ecliptic (defined by Earth's orbit around the Sun), the plane of the earth terminator
(normal to the instantaneous direction to the Sun), and the galactic equator (defined by the rotation of the Milky
Way).

Coordinate system conversions

As the spherical coordinate system is only one of many three-dimensional coordinate systems, there exist
equations for converting coordinates between the spherical coordinate system and others.

Cartesian coordinates
The spherical coordinates of a point in the ISO convention (i.e. for physics: radius r, inclination θ, azimuth φ) can
be obtained from its Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) by the formulae

y
The inverse tangent denoted in φ = arctan must be suitably defined, taking into account the correct quadrant of
x
(x,y). See the article on atan2.

Alternatively, the conversion can be considered as two sequential rectangular to polar conversions: the first in the
Cartesian xy-plane from (x,y) to (R,φ), where R is the projection of r onto the xy-plane, and the second in the
Cartesian zR-plane from (z,R) to (r,θ). The correct quadrants for φ and θ are implied by the correctness of the
planar rectangular to polar conversions.

These formulae assume that the two systems have the same origin, that the spherical reference plane is the
Cartesian xy-plane, that θ is inclination from the z direction, and that the azimuth angles are measured from the
Cartesian x-axis (so that the y-axis has φ = +90°). If θ measures elevation from the reference plane instead of
inclination from the zenith the arccos above becomes an arcsin, and the cos θ and sin θ below become switched.

Conversely, the Cartesian coordinates may be retrieved from the spherical coordinates (radius r, inclination θ,
azimuth φ), where r ∈ [0, ∞), θ ∈ [0, π], φ ∈ [0, 2π), by:

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Cylindrical coordinates
Cylindrical coordinates (radius ρ, azimuth φ, elevation z) may be converted into spherical coordinates (radius r,
inclination θ, azimuth φ), by the formulas

Conversely, the spherical coordinates may be converted into cylindrical coordinates by the formulae

These formulae assume that the two systems have the same origin and same reference plane, measure the azimuth
angle φ in the same sense from the same axis, and that the spherical angle θ is inclination from the cylindrical
z-axis.

Integration and differentiation in spherical

coordinates
The following equations assume that θ is inclination from the z (polar) axis (ambiguous since x, y, and z are
mutually normal):

The line element for an infinitesimal displacement from (r, θ, φ) to (r + dr, θ + dθ, φ + dφ) is

where

are the local orthogonal unit vectors in the directions of increasing r, θ, and φ, respectively, and x̂, ŷ, and ẑ are the
unit vectors in Cartesian coordinates.

The surface element spanning from θ to θ + dθ and φ to φ + dφ on a spherical surface at (constant) radius r is

Thus the differential solid angle is

The surface element in a surface of polar angle θ constant (a cone with vertex the origin) is

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The surface element in a surface of azimuth φ constant (a vertical half-plane) is

The volume element spanning from r to r + dr, θ to θ + dθ, and φ to φ + dφ is

Thus, for example, a function f(r, θ, φ) can be integrated over every point in ℝ3 by the triple integral

The del operator in this system leads to the following expressions for gradient, divergence, curl and Laplacian:

Kinematics
In spherical coordinates the position of a point is written

Its velocity is then

and its acceleration is

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π
In the case of a constant φ or θ = , this reduces to vector calculus in polar coordinates.
2

See also
Celestial coordinate system
Del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates
Elevation (ballistics)
Euler angles
Gimbal lock
Hypersphere
Jacobian matrix and determinant
List of canonical coordinate transformations
Sphere
Spherical harmonic
Theodolite
Vector fields in cylindrical and spherical coordinates
Yaw, pitch and roll

Notes
1. Duffett-Smith, P and Zwart, J, p. 34.
2. Eric W. Weisstein (2005-10-26). "Spherical Coordinates" (http://mathworld.wolfram.com
/SphericalCoordinates.html). MathWorld. Retrieved 2010-01-15.

Bibliography
Morse PM, Feshbach H (1953). Methods of Theoretical Physics, Part I. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 658.
ISBN 0-07-043316-X. LCCN 52011515 (https://lccn.loc.gov/52011515).
Margenau H, Murphy GM (1956). The Mathematics of Physics and Chemistry. New York: D. van Nostrand.
pp. 177–178. LCCN 55010911 (https://lccn.loc.gov/55010911).
Korn GA, Korn TM (1961). Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers. New York: McGraw-Hill.
pp. 174–175. LCCN 59014456 (https://lccn.loc.gov/59014456). ASIN B0000CKZX7.
Sauer R, Szabó I (1967). Mathematische Hilfsmittel des Ingenieurs. New York: Springer Verlag. pp. 95–96.
LCCN 67025285 (https://lccn.loc.gov/67025285).
Moon P, Spencer DE (1988). "Spherical Coordinates (r, θ, ψ)". Field Theory Handbook, Including Coordinate
Systems, Differential Equations, and Their Solutions (corrected 2nd ed., 3rd print ed.). New York: Springer-
Verlag. pp. 24–27 (Table 1.05). ISBN 978-0-387-18430-2.
Duffett-Smith P, Zwart J (2011). Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet, 4th Edition. New
York: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0521146548.

External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001) [1994], "Spherical coordinates" (https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org
/index.php?title=p/s086660), Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. / Kluwer

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Academic Publishers, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4

MathWorld description of spherical coordinates (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalCoordinates.html)
Coordinate Converter — converts between polar, Cartesian and spherical coordinates (http://www.random-
science-tools.com/maths/coordinate-converter.htm)
Conventions for Spherical Coordinates (http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/bridge/papers/spherical.pdf)
Description of the different conventions in use for naming components of spherical coordinates, along with a
proposal for standardizing this.

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