∫Calc Practice

Converting between polar and rectangular coordinates

Problem 8.214 · easy

Write the polar equation \( \displaystyle r = 12 \sin{\left(\theta \right)} \) in rectangular form.
  1. Use x = r cos θ, y = r sin θ, r² = x² + y²; multiply by r: r² = 2a·r sin θ.
  2. \[ r^{2} \sin^{2}{\left(\theta \right)} + r^{2} \cos^{2}{\left(\theta \right)} - 12 r \sin{\left(\theta \right)} \]
    Substituting back gives an equation equivalent to the polar one.✓ Proved
Answer \( x^{2} + y^{2} = 12 y \)

Lines: 1 proved, 1 not checked. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt.

The full receipt
LineStatusChecked byDetail
1Not checked—a sentence; read, not computed
2✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
answer, a second way✓ Checked independentlysympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0points on the polar curve at four angles satisfy the rectangular equation

Reviewers

  • gpt-oss:20b: fail (style) — [domain objection, downgraded to style] The first sentence incorrectly states the polar equation as r² = 2a·r sinθ and introduces an undefined parameter a. The correct manipulation is r = 12 sinθ ⇒ r² = 12 r sinθ. The subsequent equation is also unclear and does not properly substitute the Cartesian relations.
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (style) — [domain objection, downgraded to style] The solution contains a logical gap and an undefined variable 'a' in the first sentence. It fails to explicitly substitute x and y into the equation to derive the final rectangular form, instead presenting a tautology in step 2 that does not constitute a derivation.
Every verdict on record (4)
  • gpt-oss:20b: fail (style) 2026-10-13 — [domain objection, downgraded to style] The first sentence incorrectly states the polar equation as r² = 2a·r sinθ and introduces an undefined parameter a. The correct manipulation is r = 12 sinθ ⇒ r² = 12 r sinθ. The subsequent equation is also unclear and does not properly substitute the Cartesian relations.
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (style) 2026-10-13 — [domain objection, downgraded to style] The solution contains a logical gap and an undefined variable 'a' in the first sentence. It fails to explicitly substitute x and y into the equation to derive the final rectangular form, instead presenting a tautology in step 2 that does not constitute a derivation.
  • gpt-oss:20b: fail (style) 2026-10-13 — [domain objection, downgraded to style] The first sentence incorrectly introduces an undefined constant 2a and misstates the multiplication step. It should simply use r = 12 sinθ and then replace r, sinθ, cosθ with x, y, and r² = x² + y². The erroneous 2a term makes the setup incorrect.
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) 2026-10-13 — The solution fails to explicitly state the final rectangular equation x^2 + y^2 = 12y, which is the required answer. Instead, it presents a tautological identity involving polar coordinates, leaving the conversion incomplete.

Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence, not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by generator:structured/polar_conversion, checked 2026-10-13 with SymPy 1.14.0.