Finding Points of Intersection for Polar Curves

jjeddy
Messages
3
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


I need to find the 2 points of intersection (in polar form) of the two curves.

I know just by looking that the origin will be one of the points, (0,0)

The Attempt at a Solution



I have approached this two different ways,

1. set them equal to each other and tried to simplify.Which approach should i use?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
OK, i used tanθ=sinθ/cosθ and i solved for θ

i can substitute back into get my corresponding (r,θ) r point and i should have my point right?
 
Last edited:
Right. That gives you one of the points. I'm not quite sure how you came up with your answer of θ=π/4 , so it's difficult to suggest how you should come up with the second point.
 
Is that right?I think that is my polar coordinate where it intersects
 
Last edited:
Your first post states that you need to find the 2 points of intersection.

For what other value of θ, is tan(θ) = 1 ? What is the period of the tangent function?
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top