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Cylindricalcoordinatesareageneralizationoftwodimensionalpolarcoordinatestothreedimensionsbysuperposing
ContributetoMathWorld aheight( )axis.Unfortunately,thereareanumberofdifferentnotationsusedfortheothertwocoordinates.Either or
SendaMessagetotheTeam isusedtorefertotheradialcoordinateandeither or totheazimuthalcoordinates.Arfken(1985),forinstance,
uses ,whileBeyer(1987)uses .Inthiswork,thenotation isused.
MathWorldBook
Thefollowingtablesummarizesnotationalconventionsusedbyanumberofauthors.

WolframWebResources (radial,azimuthal,
reference
vertical)
13,577entries
Lastupdated:ThuNov52015 thiswork,Beyer(1987,p.212)
Created,developed,and
nurturedbyEricWeisstein SetCoordinates[Cylindrical]intheWolframLanguagepackage
(Rr,Ttheta,Zz)
atWolframResearch VectorAnalysis`

Arfken(1985,p.95)

MoonandSpencer(1988,p.12)

KornandKorn(1968,p.60)

MorseandFeshbach(1953)

IntermsoftheCartesiancoordinates ,

(1)

(2)
(3)

where , , ,andtheinversetangentmustbesuitablydefinedtotakethecorrect
quadrantof intoaccount.

Intermsof , ,and

(4)
(5)
(6)

NotethatMorseandFeshbach(1953)definethecylindricalcoordinatesby

(7)
(8)
(9)

where and .

Themetricelementsofthecylindricalcoordinatesare

(10)
(11)
(12)

sothescalefactorsare

(13)
(14)
(15)

Thelineelementis

(16)

andthevolumeelementis

(17)

TheJacobianis

(18)

ACartesianvectorisgivenincylindricalcoordinatesby

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11/9/2015 Cylindrical Coordinates -- from Wolfram MathWorld
(19)

Tofindtheunitvectors,

(20)

(21)

(22)

Derivativesofunitvectorswithrespecttothecoordinatesare

(23)

(24)

(25)

(26)

(27)

(28)

(29)

(30)

(31)

Thegradientoperatorincylindricalcoordinatesisgivenby

(32)

sothegradientcomponentsbecome

(33)

(34)

(35)
(36)

(37)

(38)
(39)
(40)
(41)

TheChristoffelsymbolsofthesecondkindinthedefinitionofMisneretal.(1973,p.209)aregivenby

(42)

(43)

(44)

TheChristoffelsymbolsofthesecondkindinthedefinitionofArfken(1985)aregivenby

(45)

(46)

(47)

(Walton1967Arfken1985,p.164,Ex.3.8.10MoonandSpencer1988,p.12a).

Thecovariantderivativesarethengivenby

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(48)

are

(49)

(50)

(51)

(52)

(53)

(54)

(55)

(56)

(57)

Crossproductsofthecoordinateaxesare

(58)
(59)
(60)

Thecommutationcoefficientsaregivenby

(61)

But

(62)

so ,where .Also

(63)

so , .Finally,

(64)

Summarizing,

(65)

(66)

(67)

Timederivativesofthevectorare

(68)

(69)

(70)

(71)

(72)

Speedisgivenby

(73)
(74)

Timederivativesoftheunitvectorsare

(75)

(76)

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(77)

(78)

(79)

(80)

Theconvectivederivativeis

(81)

(82)

Torewritethis,usetheidentity

(83)

andset ,toobtain

(84)

so

(85)

Then

(86)

(87)

Thecurlintheaboveexpressiongives

(88)

(89)

so

(90)
(91)
(92)

Weexpectthegradienttermtovanishsincespeeddoesnotdependonposition.Checkthisusingtheidentity
,

(93)

(94)

Examiningthistermbyterm,

(95)

(96)

(97)
(98)

(99)

(100)

(101)

(102)
(103)

(104)

(105)

(106)
(107)

so,asexpected,

(108)

Wehavealreadycomputed ,socombiningallthreepiecesgives

(109)

(110)
(111)

Thedivergenceis

(112)

(113)

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11/9/2015 Cylindrical Coordinates -- from Wolfram MathWorld
(114)

(115)

or,invectornotation

(116)

Thecurlis

(117)

ThescalarLaplacianis

(118)

(119)

ThevectorLaplacianis

(120)

TheHelmholtzdifferentialequationisseparableincylindricalcoordinatesandhasStckeldeterminant (for , ,
)or (forMorseandFeshbach's , ,and ).

SEEALSO:
CartesianCoordinates,EllipticCylindricalCoordinates,HelmholtzDifferentialEquationCircularCylindrical
Coordinates,PolarCoordinates,SphericalCoordinates

REFERENCES:
Arfken,G."CircularCylindricalCoordinates."2.4inMathematicalMethodsforPhysicists,3rded.Orlando,FL:AcademicPress,
pp.95101,1985.
Beyer,W.H.CRCStandardMathematicalTables,28thed.BocaRaton,FL:CRCPress,1987.
Korn,G.A.andKorn,T.M.MathematicalHandbookforScientistsandEngineers.NewYork:McGrawHill,1968.
Misner,C.W.Thorne,K.S.andWheeler,J.A.Gravitation.SanFrancisco:W.H.Freeman,1973.
Moon,P.andSpencer,D.E."CircularCylinderCoordinates ."Table1.02inFieldTheoryHandbook,Including
CoordinateSystems,DifferentialEquations,andTheirSolutions,2nded.NewYork:SpringerVerlag,pp.1217,1988.
Morse,P.M.andFeshbach,H.MethodsofTheoreticalPhysics,PartI.NewYork:McGrawHill,p.657,1953.
Walton,J.J."TensorCalculationsonComputer:Appendix."Comm.ACM10,183186,1967.

ReferencedonWolfram|Alpha:CylindricalCoordinates

CITETHISAS:
Weisstein,EricW."CylindricalCoordinates."FromMathWorldAWolframWebResource.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CylindricalCoordinates.html

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