The circular motion is usually analyzed by using the polar coordinates [tex](\rho, \theta)[/tex]. The transformation between Cartesian coordinates (x,y) and polar coordinates is
[tex]x= \rho cos \theta[/tex]
[tex]y= \rho \sin \theta[/tex]
where basically [tex]\rho[/tex] corresponds to the distance between the object and the origin of the axes (0,0) while [tex]\theta[/tex] is the angle which gives the direction.
The main advantage of the polar coordinates is that when analyzing a circular motion, the radius [tex]\rho[/tex] is a constant, since the object is moving on a circular path, and so it is possible to describe the motion of the object by specifying only the angle [tex]\theta[/tex].
