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Another common coordinate system for the plane is the polar coordinate system. [7] A point is chosen as the pole and a ray from this point is taken as the polar axis. For a given angle θ, there is a single line through the pole whose angle with the polar axis is θ (measured counterclockwise from the axis to the line).
For a geographic coordinate system of the Earth, the fundamental plane is the Equator. Astronomical coordinate systems have varying fundamental planes: [2] The horizontal coordinate system uses the observer's horizon. The Besselian coordinate system uses Earth's terminator (day/night boundary). [3] This is a Cartesian coordinate system (x, y, z).
In these coordinate systems, outward (inward) traveling radial light rays (which each follow a null geodesic) define the surfaces of constant "time", while the radial coordinate is the usual area coordinate so that the surfaces of rotation symmetry have an area of 4 π r 2.
A Cartesian coordinate system in two dimensions (also called a rectangular coordinate system or an orthogonal coordinate system [8]) is defined by an ordered pair of perpendicular lines (axes), a single unit of length for both axes, and an orientation for each axis. The point where the axes meet is taken as the origin for both, thus turning ...
The Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system (acronym ECEF), also known as the geocentric coordinate system, is a cartesian spatial reference system that represents locations in the vicinity of the Earth (including its surface, interior, atmosphere, and surrounding outer space) as X, Y, and Z measurements from its center of mass.
A Gaussian grid is used in the earth sciences as a gridded horizontal coordinate system for scientific modeling on a sphere (i.e., the approximate shape of the Earth). The grid is rectangular, with a set number of orthogonal coordinates (usually latitude and longitude). At a given latitude (or parallel), the gridpoints are equally spaced.
As is apparent from these remarks, a coordinate system is a mathematical construct, part of an axiomatic system. There is no necessary connection between coordinate systems and physical motion (or any other aspect of reality). However, coordinate systems can include time as a coordinate, and can be used to describe motion.
An example of a generalized coordinate would be to describe the position of a pendulum using the angle of the pendulum relative to vertical, rather than by the x and y position of the pendulum. Although there may be many possible choices for generalized coordinates for a physical system, they are generally selected to simplify calculations ...