Learning Resources

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Outcomes

In this lesson you will learn

  • the meaning of the terms pole, polar axis, and polar coordinates
  • to use polar graph paper and plot points in polar form

By the end of this section students will be able to:

  • represent complex numbers in a variety of ways
  • apply operations on complex numbers both in rectangular and polar form
  • construct and examine graphs in the complex and polar planes
  • translate between polar and rectangular representation

Introduction

You have been able to plot points in the real number system for many years now, and have recently extended this understanding to plotting points on an Argand plane. In this section, you will extend your understanding of graphing rectangular coordinates to graphing polar coordinates. 

Using polar coordinates, you will discover, is often a simpler way to represent equations. Quite often, converting a complex number from rectangular form to polar form will enable you to graph an equation more easily.

This section of study should take 3 to 4 hours to complete.

Prerequisites

To be successful in this lesson, it would be helpful to know the following:

  • graphing on a coordinate grid
  • the Argand plane
  • the definition of concentric circles
  • coterminal angles
  • transformations (reflections)
  • radian measure