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In mathematics, a spherical coordinate system specifies a given point in three-dimensional space by using a distance and two angles as its three coordinates. These are the radial distance r along the line connecting the point to a fixed point called the origin; the polar angle θ between this radial line and a given polar axis; [a] and
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 ...
A diagram illustrating great-circle distance (drawn in red) between two points on a sphere, P and Q. Two antipodal points, u and v are also shown. The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path ...
Angle AOB is a central angle. A central angle is an angle whose apex (vertex) is the center O of a circle and whose legs (sides) are radii intersecting the circle in two distinct points A and B. Central angles are subtended by an arc between those two points, and the arc length is the central angle of a circle of radius one (measured in radians). [1]
Radial distance, typically denoted r or ρ , is the distance from the origin to a point along the radial dimension in a: Polar coordinate system; Spherical coordinate ...
d is the distance between the two points along a great circle of the sphere (see spherical distance), r is the radius of the sphere. The haversine formula allows the haversine of θ to be computed directly from the latitude (represented by φ) and longitude (represented by λ) of the two points:
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.
Small circle of a sphere. In spherical geometry, a spherical circle (often shortened to circle) is the locus of points on a sphere at constant spherical distance (the spherical radius) from a given point on the sphere (the pole or spherical center).