This is a READING assignment I give to my Pre-Calculus students. The students read the information given and must use previous knowledge and skills to discover new information. Critical thinking skills are used to discover how to convert rectangular coordinates to polar coordinates and vice versa. This knowledge is then extended to equations.
A printable student worksheet and teacher answer key are included.
This addresses CA Standards for Trigonometry 15.0 and 16.0:
15.0 Students are familiar with polar coordinates. In particular, they can determine polar coordinates of a point given in rectangular coordinate and vice versa.
16.0 Students represent equations given in rectangular coordinates in terms of polar coordinates.
NOTE: Math Type 5.0 is used on the worksheet. If you do not have Math Type installed, you may not be able to read this. A pdf version is also included so that every computer should be able to read the lesson.