Section 11.4: polar coordinates

Assigned problems: Exercises pp. 702-704, #1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 16, 22, 26, 37, 56, 57, 65, 69 (due Wednesday, 10/8).

1. Why would we want to change from our comfortable Cartesian coordinate system into this polar coordinate system? What motivations can you suggest?

2. Why do we call them ``polar coordinates''?

3. What does the equation of a circle look like in Cartesian coordinates? Compare it to the equation of the same circle in polar coordinates.

4. Figure 5, p. 695 is critical to an understanding of polar coordinates. Redraw Figure 5, and write a good caption that explains the point that is being made.