<p>anything to do with polar coordinates freaks me out. esp. since i havent been taught it at school and my attempts to grasp the concept by self-study doesnt seem to be working...any tips for how to solve those problems? are there any good sites that would explain this stuff simply enough?</p>
<p>I completely second that. It's not taught in my curriculum and I can't understand it myself. Please anyone, give us some tips!</p>
<p>It's not that difficult as long as you know your reference angles and complex numbers. Here's some of the basic things you should know:</p>
<p>Let's say you have Z=a+bi, with that you can convert simply by using two formulas</p>
<p>r= square root(a^2+b^2), r meaning radius
theta, angle=arc tan b/a<br>
Here's a sample problem </p>
<p>Convert Z=5-2i<br>
Simply you get square root of five square plus negative two squared
which gives square root(29) and your angle is just arc tan -2/5, which is about 338 degrees. Final answer? square root(29) cis 338 degrees</p>
<p>To convert back expand your cis into cos theta+ sin theta (i) and distribute your r or radius as your polar coordinate form is r cis theta. </p>
<p>For polar coordinates you use the same formulas to convert between the polar and Cartesian plane.</p>
<p>i think that's what you guys mean by polar coordinates, if you need help with the actual plotting just say post away and i'll reply.</p>
<p>that was extremely helpful. thanks a ton romeaugustus. btw, what's "cis"? i hope i'm not as stupid as i sound.</p>
<p>cisx is just a short form for cosx + i sinx</p>
<p>yeah cis is just cos theta + i sin theta. It's taken from the c in cosine i in the imaginary number, s from sine. CIS-->cos + i sine. That's pretty important</p>
<p>thanks!:-) I'm writing it in about 10 hours. thats not long from now. wish me luck!! any valuable last minute tips?</p>
<p>Do I need to know the De Moivre's Thms</p>
<p>i dont think so.</p>