Re: Rectangular to Polar on the HP35s Message #2 Posted by Gene Wright on 31 July 2007, 12:45 p.m., in response to message #1 by Howard Boardman
The HP35s does not convert P->R and R->P the way previous HP calculators have done. There is no provision that does this exactly the same way.
The 35s has a DISPLAY option which changes the 5i5 style complex number (rectangular) to the magnitude THETA angle style complex number (polar).
If you're just showing results one way or the other, change the display mode.
If you need the magnitude and angle of a rectangular complex number, then the ABS function will grab the magnitude and the ABS function will grab the angle portions of a complex number, even if the display mode is "rectangular".
If you need the X and Y coordinates of a polar form complex number, then it is a bit more complicated.
First, find the magnitude and angle as described above.
Then transform these into the X and Y coordinate as:
X = magnitude x COS theta
and
Y = magnitude x SIN theta
Be aware that for arguments VERY close to 90 degrees, the COS function is less accurate than for other angles. Rather than 9, 10+ decimal positions being accurate, it drops to 4 or 5 positions.
You can read more about this in the learning module found here:
Complex numbers 2
You can see all the learing modules available for the 35s by going here:
All 35s learning modules
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