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What are the parametric equations of a circle in $x z$ plane with a rotation a round $z$-axis ? so if

$x = r * \cos(\theta)$

$z = r * \sin(\theta)$

what should $y =$ ??

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  • $\begingroup$ If I'm understanding your description properly, it sounds like $y=0$, so your parametric representation is: $(r\cos\theta,0,r\sin\theta)$ $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 16:02
  • $\begingroup$ yes, when y = 0 the circle is in xz plane, now I want to rotate it around z-axis ? $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 16:13
  • $\begingroup$ I see... it sounds as if you'll need one parameter, $\theta$, to trace out your circle, and another parameter, $t$, to make it rotate? $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 16:29
  • $\begingroup$ You should start from the parametrization of a sphere in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and then fix the polar angle to the desired value $\endgroup$
    – user438666
    May 13, 2018 at 16:30
  • $\begingroup$ G Tony, --> thats exactly what i am trying to do, so $theta$ for the circle and t for the tilt $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 16:41

2 Answers 2

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The circle

$$ p = (r\cos(t),0,r\sin(t)) $$

rotated around the $z$ axis is built with the rotation matrix

$$ R(\theta) = \left( \begin{array}{ccc} \cos (\theta ) & -\sin (\theta ) & 0 \\ \sin (\theta ) & \cos (\theta ) & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ \end{array} \right) $$

In new coordinates reads

$$ p\cdot R(\theta) = (r \cos (\theta ) \cos (t),-r \sin (\theta ) \cos (t),r \sin (t)) $$

Attached a rotated circle (red) by $\frac{\pi}{3}$

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ great visuals, thanks a lot :) $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 19:14
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$HINT:$

You can see geometrically that :

any point $P(x,0,z)$ in the $XY-plane$,

if rotated about the $Z-axis$ by an angle $α$ with the $XZ- plane$ changes to :

$(x-x.cosα, x.sinα, z)$.

so if your original coordinates are:

$(r.cosθ,0,r.sinθ)$,(in the $XZ$-plane)

they will change to:

$x=r.cosθ-r.cosθ.cosα$

$y=r.cosθ.sinα$

$z=r.sinθ$

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  • $\begingroup$ thanks a lot, works :) could you tell where is the source of such equations ? $\endgroup$ May 13, 2018 at 17:13
  • $\begingroup$ you can take the coordinates of a point (x,0,z). Rotate it about z-axis in a rough diagram by an angle α, and use trignometric ratios to find the final directed distances from x,y,z axis. Hence finding the final coordinates.(sorry i cannot attach a photo yet) $\endgroup$
    – kadoodle
    May 14, 2018 at 14:36
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks a lot, thats really helpful $\endgroup$ May 15, 2018 at 14:44

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