Cylindrical and Spherical

Coordinate Systems
ECE 126 – Electromagnetics

WMSU Reference/s:

Hayt, W. Jr, & Buck, J. (2018). Engineering electromagnetics (9th Edition). Avenue of
the Americas, New York, NY 10020: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

This document is for classroom use only and should not be shared outside the WMSU
community.
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CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL COORDINATES
The circular cylindrical coordinate system is the three-
dimensional (3D) version of the polar coordinates of analytic
geometry.
In polar coordinates, we specify a point in
a plane by giving both the distance 𝜌 and
the angle ∅, as shown.

In circular cylindrical coordinates, we also specify the distance z

of the point from an arbitrary z = 0 reference plane that is
perpendicular to the line 𝜌 = 0.
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In this coordinate system, we consider any
point as the intersection of three mutually
perpendicular surfaces, as shown. These
surfaces are:
❑ A circular cylinder 𝜌 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
❑ A plane ∅ = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
❑ Another plane 𝑧 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
This corresponds to the location of a point in rectangular
coordinate system by the intersection of the three planes.

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Three unit vectors are also defined in
cylindrical coordinates, 𝒂𝜌 , 𝒂∅ , and 𝒂𝑧 , as
shown.

❑ Unit vector 𝒂𝜌 at a point 𝑃 𝜌1 , ∅1 , 𝑧1 is directed radially

outward, normal to the cylindrical surface 𝜌 = 𝜌1 , and lies in
the planes ∅ = ∅1 and 𝑧 = 𝑧1 .
❑ Unit vector 𝒂∅ is normal to the plane ∅ = ∅1 , in the direction
of increasing ∅, lies in the plane 𝑧 = 𝑧1 and tangent to the
cylindrical surface 𝜌 = 𝜌1 . 4
❑ Unit vector 𝒂𝑧 is the same as the unit vector 𝒂𝑧 of the
rectangular coordinates.

Two of the unit vectors in cylindrical coordinates, 𝒂𝜌 and 𝒂∅ ,

vary with the coordinate ∅, as their dimension change. With this,
when doing the integration or differentiation with respect to ∅,
𝒂𝜌 and 𝒂∅ must not be treated as constants.

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RELATIONSHIP BET. RECTANGULAR AND CYLINDRICAL
COORDINATES SYSTEMS

From the figure, we see that

𝑥 = 𝜌 cos ∅
𝑦 = 𝜌 sin ∅
𝑧=𝑧
Consequently, we have
𝜌= 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝜌 ≥ 0
Note: The proper value of ∅ is 𝑦
∅ = tan −1
determined by inspecting the
𝑥
signs of x and y. 𝑧=𝑧
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Table below shows the relationship between rectangular and
cylindrical coordinate systems.

Rectangular to Cylindrical Cylindrical to Rectangular

Coordinates Coordinates
𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 → 𝝆, ∅, 𝒛 𝝆, ∅, 𝒛 → 𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛

𝜌= 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝜌 ≥ 0 𝑥 = 𝜌 cos ∅
−1
𝑦
∅ = tan 𝑦 = 𝜌 sin ∅
𝑥
𝑧=𝑧 𝑧=𝑧

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Transformation of vector function from one coordinate system
to another:
Vector component in a desired direction may be obtained by
taking the dot product of the vector and a unit vector in the
desired direction. Hence,
𝐴𝜌 = 𝑨. 𝒂𝜌 𝐴∅ = 𝑨. 𝒂∅
𝐴𝜌 = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂𝜌 = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 . 𝒂𝜌 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 . 𝒂𝜌 + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂𝜌
𝐴𝜌 = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 . 𝒂𝜌 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 . 𝒂𝜌

𝐴∅ = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂∅ = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 . 𝒂∅ + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 . 𝒂∅ + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂∅
𝐴∅ = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 . 𝒂∅ + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 . 𝒂∅

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𝐴𝑧 = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂𝑧 = 𝐴𝑥 𝒂𝑥 . 𝒂𝑧 + 𝐴𝑦 𝒂𝑦 . 𝒂𝑧 + 𝐴𝑧 𝒂𝑧 . 𝒂𝑧
𝐴𝑧 = 𝐴𝑧 𝒂 𝑧 . 𝒂 𝑧 = 𝐴𝑧 𝒂 𝑧 . 𝒂 𝑧 = 1

Dot product of unit vectors as functions of ∅ are shown in the

table below.

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Unit vectors:

Rectangular → Cylindrical Cylindrical → Rectangular

𝑎𝑥 = cos ∅ 𝑎𝜌 − sin ∅ 𝑎∅ 𝑎𝜌 = cos ∅ 𝑎𝑥 + sin ∅ 𝑎𝑦
𝑎𝑦 = si𝑛 ∅ 𝑎𝜌 + cos ∅ 𝑎∅ 𝑎∅ = −sin ∅ 𝑎𝑥 + cos ∅ 𝑎𝑦

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SPHERICAL COORDINATE SYSTEM

In the spherical coordinate system, a point in space is described

by an ordered triple which consists of one distance and two
angles 𝑟, 𝜃, ∅ .
where:
r = distance from the origin to any point
𝜃 = angle between the z axis and the line drawn
from the origin to the point
∅ = angle between the x axis and the projection
in the 𝑧 = 0 plane of the line drawn from the
origin to the point. (the same as the angle ∅ in
cylindrical coordinates)
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Three unit vectors may also be
defined at any point. They are
mutually perpendicular, and a right-
handed coordinate system is defined
by causing 𝑎𝑟 𝑥 𝑎𝜃 = 𝑎∅ , as shown
in the figure.

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 Spherical to Rectangular:
𝒙 = 𝒓 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝐜𝐨𝐬 ∅
𝒚 = 𝒓 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 𝐬𝐢𝐧 ∅
𝒛 = 𝒓 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽
Rectangular to Spherical:
𝒓= 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 + 𝒛𝟐 𝒓 ≥ 𝟎
𝒛 𝒛
𝜽= 𝐜𝐨𝐬 −𝟏 = 𝐜𝐨𝐬 −𝟏 → 𝟎° ≤ 𝜽 ≤ 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
𝒓 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 + 𝒛𝟐
−𝟏
𝒚
∅ = 𝐭𝐚𝐧
𝒙
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Spherical to Cylindrical:
𝝆 = 𝒓 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽
∅=∅
𝒛 = 𝒓 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽

Cylindrical to Spherical:

𝒓 = 𝝆𝟐 + 𝒛𝟐
∅=∅
−𝟏
𝒛 𝒛
𝜽 = 𝐜𝐨𝐬 = 𝐜𝐨𝐬 −𝟏
𝒓 𝝆𝟐 + 𝒛𝟐

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Transformation of vectors
The transformation of vectors requires the determination of the
products of the unit vector in rectangular and spherical
coordinates. Because the dot product of any spherical unit vector
with any rectangular unit vector is the component of the spherical
vector in the direction of the rectangular vector. Table below show
the dot product of unit vectors in spherical and rectangular
coordinates.

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Example 1
Transform the vector 𝑩 = 𝑦𝒂𝑥 − 𝑥𝒂𝑦 + 𝑧𝒂𝑧 into cylindrical
coordinates.

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Example 2
(a) Give the rectangular coordinates of the point 𝐶 ሺ𝜌 = 4.4, ∅ =
−115°, 𝑧 = 2ሻ. (b) Give the cylindrical coordinates of the point
𝐷 𝑥 = −3.1, 𝑦 = 2.6, 𝑧 = −3 . (c) Specify distance from C to D.

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Example 3
Transform to cylindrical coordinates: (a) 𝐹 = 10𝑎𝑥 − 8𝑎𝑦 + 6𝑎𝑧
at point 𝑃 10, −8,6 ; (b) 𝐺 = 2𝑥 + 𝑦 𝑎𝑥 − 𝑦 − 4𝑥 𝑎𝑦 at point
𝑄 𝜌, ∅, 𝑧 . (c) Give the rectangular components of the vector 𝐻 =
20𝑎𝜌 − 10𝑎∅ + 3𝑎𝑧 at point 𝑃 𝑥 = 5, 𝑦 = 2, 𝑧 = −1 .

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