What does the graph of #r = \cos \theta# such that #0^\circ \le \theta \le 360^\circ# look like?

1 Answer
Dec 28, 2014

I used Excel to plot your graph and I got:

enter image source here

In the first two columns you have for each angle #theta# (in radians but it is the same) between #0# and #2pi# the corresponding value of #r#, calculated as:
#r=cos(theta)#

The next two columns contain the corresponding values of #x# and #y# to plot your equation on a rectangular coordinate system #x,y#.

To obtain the values in the #x# and #y# columns you must remember the relationship between polar (first two columns) and rectangular (second two columns) coordinates:

enter image source here

(hope it helped)