Converting Cartesian Coordinates to Cylindrical Coordinates

[seang]

Homework Statement

Say I have line, y = - 5 in cartesian coordinates. How do I express this in cylindrical coordinates?

Also, if I have a point (0,-5) in cartesian coordinates, how to I express this position vector in cylindrical coordinates?

Homework Equations

y = r sin (phi)

j = r(hat)cos (phi) - phi(hat) sin (phi)

The Attempt at a Solution

THe relations are right there but I've forgotten howto use them.

 

[mjsd]

do you remember how to turn say (x,y) into (r,\theta) in 2D? the idea there is similar...

 

[HallsofIvy]

Cylindrical coordinates? That's in 3d but you only mention 2 coordinates? Perhaps you mean polar coordinates- cylindrical coordinates but ignore the z component.

You mention y= r sin(\phi) (I would have used \theta). Do you also know that x= r cos(\phi)? Solve those two equations for r and \phi in terms of x and y. The first is easy! You can eliminate \phi by squaring both equations and adding. The second is about as easy: eliminate r by dividing one equation by the other.