Python conversion between coordinates

Question

Are there functions for conversion between different coordinate systems?

For example, Matlab has [rho,phi] = cart2pol(x,y) for conversion from cartesian

Answer 1

Using numpy, you can define the following:

import numpy as np

def cart2pol(x, y):
    rho = np.sqrt(x**2 + y**2)
    phi = np.arctan2(y, x)
    return(rho, phi)

def pol2cart(rho, phi):
    x = rho * np.cos(phi)
    y = rho * np.sin(phi)
    return(x, y)

Answer 2

There is a better way to write polar(), here it is:

def polar(x,y):
  `returns r, theta(degrees)`
  return math.hypot(x,y),math.degrees(math.atan2(y,x))

Answer 3

If your coordinates are stored as complex numbers you can use cmath

Answer 4

The existing answers can be simplified:

from numpy import exp, abs, angle

def polar2z(r,theta):
    return r * exp( 1j * theta )

def z2polar(z):
    return ( abs(z), angle(z) )

Or even:

polar2z = lambda r,θ: r * exp( 1j * θ )
z2polar = lambda z: ( abs(z), angle(z) )

Note these also work on arrays!

rS, thetaS = z2polar( [z1,z2,z3] )
zS = polar2z( rS, thetaS )

Answer 5

Thinking about it in general, I would strongly consider hiding coordinate system behind well-designed abstraction. Quoting Uncle Bob and his book:

class Point(object)
    def setCartesian(self, x, y)
    def setPolar(self, rho, theta)
    def getX(self)
    def getY(self)
    def getRho(self)
    def setTheta(self)

With interface like that any user of Point class may choose convenient representation, no explicit conversions will be performed. All this ugly sines, cosines etc. will be hidden in one place. Point class. Only place where you should care which representation is used in computer memory.

Answer 6

You can use the cmath module.

If the number is converted to a complex format, then it becomes easier to just call the polar method on the number.

import cmath
input_num = complex(1, 2) # stored as 1+2j
r, phi = cmath.polar(input_num)