Del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates

# Del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates

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Encyclopedia
This is a list of some vector calculus formulae of general use in working with various curvilinear
Curvilinear coordinates
Curvilinear coordinates are a coordinate system for Euclidean space in which the coordinate lines may be curved. These coordinates may be derived from a set of Cartesian coordinates by using a transformation that is locally invertible at each point. This means that one can convert a point given...

coordinate system
Coordinate system
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system which uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of a point or other geometric element. The order of the coordinates is significant and they are sometimes identified by their position in an ordered tuple and sometimes by...

s.

## Note

• This page uses standard physics notation. For spherical coordinates, is the angle between the z axis and the radius vector connecting the origin to the point in question. is the angle between the projection of the radius vector onto the x-y plane and the x axis. Some sources reverse the definitions of and , so the meaning should be inferred from the context.
• The function atan2
Atan2
In trigonometry, the two-argument function atan2 is a variation of the arctangent function. For any real arguments and not both equal to zero, is the angle in radians between the positive -axis of a plane and the point given by the coordinates on it...

(y, x) can be used instead of the mathematical function arctan(y/x) due to its domain and image. The classical arctan(y/x) has an image of (-π/2, +π/2), whereas atan2(y, x) is defined to have an image of (-π, π]. (The expressions for the Del in spherical coordinates may need to be corrected)

Table with the del
Del
In vector calculus, del is a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol \nabla . When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes its standard derivative as defined in calculus...

operator in cylindrical, spherical and parabolic cylindrical coordinates
Operation
Cartesian coordinates (x,y,z)
Cylindrical coordinates (ρ,φ,z)
Spherical coordinates (r,θ,φ)
Parabolic cylindrical coordinates
Parabolic cylindrical coordinates
In mathematics, parabolic cylindrical coordinates are a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system that results from projecting the two-dimensional parabolic coordinate system in the...

(σ,τ,z)
Definition
of
coordinates

Definition
of
unit
vectors

A vector field
Vector field
In vector calculus, a vector field is an assignmentof a vector to each point in a subset of Euclidean space. A vector field in the plane for instance can be visualized as an arrow, with a given magnitude and direction, attached to each point in the plane...

Gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....

Divergence
Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around...

Curl

Laplace operator
Laplace operator
In mathematics the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols ∇·∇, ∇2 or Δ...

Vector Laplacian
Vector Laplacian
In mathematics and physics, the vector Laplace operator, denoted by \scriptstyle \nabla^2, named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, is a differential operator defined over a vector field. The vector Laplacian is similar to the scalar Laplacian...

Material derivative

Differential displacement

Differential normal area

Differential volume

Non-trivial calculation rules:

1. (Laplacian)

2. (using Lagrange's formula for the cross product
Cross product
In mathematics, the cross product, vector product, or Gibbs vector product is a binary operation on two vectors in three-dimensional space. It results in a vector which is perpendicular to both of the vectors being multiplied and normal to the plane containing them...

)

## See also

• Del
Del
In vector calculus, del is a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol \nabla . When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes its standard derivative as defined in calculus...

• Orthogonal coordinates
Orthogonal coordinates
In mathematics, orthogonal coordinates are defined as a set of d coordinates q = in which the coordinate surfaces all meet at right angles . A coordinate surface for a particular coordinate qk is the curve, surface, or hypersurface on which qk is a constant...

• Curvilinear coordinates
Curvilinear coordinates
Curvilinear coordinates are a coordinate system for Euclidean space in which the coordinate lines may be curved. These coordinates may be derived from a set of Cartesian coordinates by using a transformation that is locally invertible at each point. This means that one can convert a point given...

• Vector fields in cylindrical and spherical coordinates
Vector fields in cylindrical and spherical coordinates
* This page uses standard physics notation. For spherical coordinates, \theta is the angle between the z axis and the radius vector connecting the origin to the point in question. \phi is the angle between the projection of the radius vector onto the x-y plane and the x axis...