Gradients in Cartesian and polar.

132 Views Asked by At

I have the equation of a curve passing through the origin of Cartesian coordinate system as:

$ f(x)= \begin{cases} x,x>0\\ -x,x<0\\ \end{cases} $

Note that we assume $f(x)$ is not defined if $x=0$.

How could I show if gradient of $f$ is the same in Cartesian and in polar coordinates.

I know in case $x>0$ we have $\frac{\partial f}{\partial x}=1$. In case $x<0$ also we have $\frac{\partial f}{\partial x}=-1$.

Note also that in polar system gradient is taken with respect to $\theta$ and in Cartesian gradient is taken with respect to $x$.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

In case $x>0$ we have:

$f(x)=x$

or,

$y=x$.

Converting to polar system we have:

$\overbrace{r \cos{\theta}}^{x}=\overbrace{r\sin{\theta}}^{y}$.

or,

$\sin{\theta}=\cos{\theta}$

or,

$\tan{\theta}=1$

Here $\tan{\theta}$ is the slop in polar system that is the same with the gradient $f(x)$ with respect to $x$ in Cartesian system while $x>0$. With same approach one could work out the case $x<0$.