Robert Koslover
Certified Consultant
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Posted:
3 years ago
Feb 18, 2022, 7:28 p.m. EST
Updated:
3 years ago
Feb 18, 2022, 7:45 p.m. EST
In many of the plotting options, you can enter an expression for the quantity along the horizontal axis of your plot. On the surface of a sphere (including any point or any curve on that surface) with radius R that is centered at the origin, the expression for the polar angle theta is: acos(z/R). This follows from the fact that z = R cos(theta).
Mathematicians and physicists use different conventions of theta and phi labeling of the angles. Physicists use theta as the polar angle and phi as the azimuthal angle. Mathematicians label them the other way. For more information than you need, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinate_system .
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Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) Inc.
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In many of the plotting options, you can enter an *expression* for the quantity along the horizontal axis of your plot. On the surface of a sphere (including any point or any curve on that surface) with radius *R* that is centered at the origin, the expression for the polar angle theta is: *acos(z/R)*. This follows from the fact that *z = R cos(theta)*.
Mathematicians and physicists use different conventions of theta and phi labeling of the angles. Physicists use theta as the polar angle and phi as the azimuthal angle. Mathematicians label them the other way. For more information than you need, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinate_system .