As the coordinate system is two-dimensional, each point is determined by two polar coordinates: the radial coordinate and the angular coordinate. The radial coordinate (usually denoted as formula_1) denotes the point's distance from a central point known as the "pole" (equivalent to the "origin" in the Cartesian system). The angular coordinate (also known as the polar angle or the azimuth angle, and usually denoted by θ or formula_2) denotes the positive or anticlockwise (counterclockwise) angle required to reach the point from the 0° ray or "polar axis" (which is equivalent to the positive x-axis in the Cartesian coordinate plane).