spherical coordinate

noun Mathematics.

Usually spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.

Origin of spherical coordinate

First recorded in 1860–65

Words nearby spherical coordinate

sphere of influence, spherical, spherical aberration, spherical angle, spherical astronomy, spherical coordinate, spherical coordinates, spherical excess, spherical geometry, spherical lens, spherical polygon

British Dictionary definitions for spherical coordinates

spherical coordinates

pl n

three coordinates that define the location of a point in three-dimensional space in terms of the length r of its radius vector, the angle, θ, which this vector makes with one axis, and the angle, φ, made by a second axis, perpendicular to the first, with the plane containing the first axis and the point. Usually written (r, θ, φ)

Scientific definitions for spherical coordinates

spherical coordinate

Any of a set of coordinates in a three-dimensional system for locating points in space by means of a radius vector and two angles measured from the center of a sphere with respect to two arbitrary, fixed, perpendicular directions.