Polar Graph Paper
Concentric circles crossed by radial spokes, so a point is an angle and a distance: the natural grid for anything that goes round.
Concentric circles crossed by radial spokes, so a point is an angle and a distance: the natural grid for anything that goes round.
Choose Polar Graph Paper from the list. It opens with the usual size already set.
Pick the paper size, the grid and the orientation. Customize holds colours, margins and more.
Download the ready PDF, or print straight from the page at 100% scale.
Some curves are painful in x and y and trivial in r and θ. A circle centred on the origin is r = a. A spiral is r = aθ. A four-petalled rose is r = a·cos(2θ). Plotting any of those on squared paper means computing a table of coordinates; on polar paper you read them straight off.
The same applies to measured data with a direction in it — an antenna pattern, a loudspeaker's dispersion, wind roses, or the field of view of an instrument.
The spoke spacing sets your angular resolution and the ring count sets your radial resolution; the two are independent.
Every sheet here is free, adjustable and prints at exact scale.
15° gives 24 spokes, which is the usual compromise between resolution and clutter. Drop to 5° for detailed plotting, or go up to 30° or 45° for quick sketches.
Yes, if Degree labels is on. They are drawn as vector text just outside the outer ring, so they stay crisp at any print size.
10 is a good default because it makes each ring a tenth of the radius, so reading a value off is straightforward arithmetic.
