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Solids described by spherical coordinates

Spherical coordinates locate a point in space by indicating a distance, , and two angles, and .
  • is the point's distance from the origin, and is never negative.
  • is the angle that ray from the origin through the point makes with the positive -axis.
  • is the angle from cylindrical coordinates.
Certain solids can be described by providing ranges for these three coordinates. Play with the interactive figure here to get a feel for the types of solids that can be created with spherical coordinates.