This post introduced the following questions. What direction does $\vec{e}_{\phi}$ point? Modern convention dictates that $\vec{e}_{\phi}$ should point in the direction of increasing $\phi$, but what is the reason for this convention? If there are only two unique configurations for three mutually perpendicular unit vectors in light of the ambiguous orientation of each unit vector, it seems likely…
Category: Coordinate Systems
Reasoning about Left and Right Handed Coordinate Systems
A coordinate system can be defined by three perpendicular unit vectors. If the coordinate system is Cartesian, which direction does the $+x$ axis point? To resolve this problem, I define an orientation–a coordinate system that is oriented in a certain direction in three-dimensional space. How many unique orientations are there? Here, a unique orientation is an…
The Crux of Calculus
Define $\Delta x \equiv x_2 – x_1$, to be consistent with this post. Similarly, define $\Delta y \equiv y_2 – y_1$ and $\Delta z \equiv z_2 – z_1$. The Cartesian coordinates are $x$, $y$, & $z$. In contrast, the spherical coordinates are $r$, $\theta$, & $\phi$. Here, $\phi$ is the azimuthal angle in the $xy$-plane. Next,…
Spherical Coordinates
The following drawing shows how to convert from Cartesian coordinates to spherical coordinates. This is a short post, but these three equations are pretty useful. I am going to use the end of this post to define the cosine and sine functions: $ \sin\phi \equiv \frac{opp}{hyp}$ $ \cos\phi \equiv \frac{adj}{hyp}$. Here, $ hyp$ is the…