Polar curvature

379 Views Asked by At

To find curvature in polar coordinates, is it the same formula as in rectangular but like with $dr/d\theta$ instead of $dy/dx$?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

5
On

No. For $\gamma(\theta)=(x(\theta),y(\theta))$ you know that $$\kappa(\theta) =\frac{x'(\theta)y''(\theta)-x''(\theta)y'(\theta)}{(x'(\theta)^2+y'(\theta)^2)^{3/2}}.$$Write $x(\theta)=r(\theta)\cos\theta$, $y(\theta)=r(\theta)\sin\theta$, differentiate and plug above to get the correct formula for the curvature in polar coordinates.