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For example, one sphere that is described in Cartesian coordinates with the equation x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = c 2 can be described in spherical coordinates by the simple equation r = c. (In this system— shown here in the mathematics convention —the sphere is adapted as a unit sphere , where the radius is set to unity and then can generally be ...
Let (x, y, z) be the standard Cartesian coordinates, and (ρ, θ, φ) the spherical coordinates, with θ the angle measured away from the +Z axis (as , see conventions in spherical coordinates). As φ has a range of 360° the same considerations as in polar (2 dimensional) coordinates apply whenever an arctangent of it is taken. θ has a range ...
This article uses the standard notation ISO 80000-2, which supersedes ISO 31-11, for spherical coordinates (other sources may reverse the definitions of θ and φ): . The polar angle is denoted by [,]: it is the angle between the z-axis and the radial vector connecting the origin to the point in question.
Note: This page uses common physics notation for spherical coordinates, in which is the angle between the z axis and the radius vector connecting the origin to the point in question, while is the angle between the projection of the radius vector onto the x-y plane and the x axis. Several other definitions are in use, and so care must be taken ...
The formula for the volume of the -ball can be derived from this by integration. Similarly the surface area element of the ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle (n-1)} -sphere of radius r {\displaystyle r} , which generalizes the area element of the 2 {\displaystyle 2} -sphere, is given by
Some of these formulas are expressed in terms of the Cartesian expansion of the spherical harmonics into polynomials in x, y, z, and r. For purposes of this table, it is useful to express the usual spherical to Cartesian transformations that relate these Cartesian components to θ {\displaystyle \theta } and φ {\displaystyle \varphi } as
While one might describe the motion of a particle in a rectangular box using Cartesian coordinates, it is easier to describe the motion in a sphere with spherical coordinates. Spherical coordinates are the most common curvilinear coordinate systems and are used in Earth sciences, cartography, quantum mechanics, relativity, and engineering.
An alternative parametrization exists that closely follows the angular parametrization of spherical coordinates: [1] = , = , = . Here, > parametrizes the concentric ellipsoids around the origin and [,] and [,] are the usual polar and azimuthal angles of spherical coordinates, respectively.