4.1K reactions · 38 comments | Polar and Cartesian coordinates are...

Polar and Cartesian coordinates are two ways of describing the position of points in a plane. In the Cartesian system, each point is identified by an ordered pair (x, y), where x measures the horizontal distance and y measures the vertical distance from the origin. This system is built on two perpendicular axes and is very useful for representing straight lines, parabolas, and other algebraic shapes. Because it relies on a grid-like structure, the Cartesian system is often used in algebra and ge