How do you find the polar coordinates of $(-4,0)$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2014-09-20T16:15:23

The rectangular coordinates $(x,y)=(-4,0)$ is equivalent to the polar coordinates $(r,theta)=(4,pi)$

Let us look at some details.

Since $r$ is the distance of $(-4,0)$ from the origin,

$r=sqrt{(-4)^2+0^2}=4$

Since the segment from the origin to $(-4,0)$ makes $180^circ=pi$ rad with the positive x-axis,

$theta=pi$

How do you find the polar coordinates of (-4,0)(-4,0) ?