Polar Graph Paper
Printable polar coordinate graph paper: 5 to 20 concentric circles with radial lines every 30, 15, 10 or 5 degrees on A4, Letter and more. A vector PDF at true size, or PNG / JPG.
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Printable polar coordinate graph paper: 5 to 20 concentric circles with radial lines every 30, 15, 10 or 5 degrees on A4, Letter and more. A vector PDF at true size, or PNG / JPG.
Polar coordinate graphing paper (circular graph paper, a blank polar grid - the names vary) is a target of concentric circles crossed by radial lines, and it is the sheet for anything that happens in angles and distances: plotting polar equations (roses, cardioids, spirals) in a maths class, sketching antenna and speaker patterns, laying out a clock face, a colour wheel, a mandala or a round quilt block, working a compass rose or a radar chart by hand. This polar grid generator draws it to print. Choose how many circles fill the sheet (5, 8, 10, 12, 15 or 20 - the radius is split into that many equal steps), how fine the radial lines are (every 30, 15, 10 or 5 degrees, which is 12, 24, 36 or 72 lines), an ink from faint grey to black, blue or green, and the paper. The four axes and the outer circle are drawn a little heavier so the quadrants read at a glance.
The grid fills the sheet inside the margin: on A4 the outer circle is 190 mm across, on Letter 196 mm, and on a landscape A3 sheet 277 mm. The PDF is drawn as vectors in millimetres with the sheet size in its page box, so it prints crisp at any resolution and exact when the print dialog is set to actual size (100%, not "fit to page"). The PNG and JPG are rendered at 300 DPI (200 on A3 and Tabloid) and carry that resolution in the file. The Print button opens the print dialog with the paper already set. Pages puts up to 20 identical sheets into one PDF and one print run; the PNG and JPG are always a single sheet.
For plotting a polar equation, 10 circles and lines every 15 degrees is the classroom standard; go to 72 lines (5 degrees) when the curve has to be read precisely, and to 36 (10 degrees) for a quick sketch. Design work - clock faces, wheels, mandalas - usually wants 12 lines (30 degrees) and fewer, bolder circles. The details card on the sheet reports the count and the outer radius in millimetres.
The same engine draws the rest of the set - graph paper in any grid, 5 mm, 1 cm, 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1 inch, 10 per inch, dot grid, isometric, lined paper, music staff paper and blank sudoku grids - every one a vector PDF at true size. They are all listed on the printable paper page.
The grid is computed and drawn in your browser and the PDF is written by the page itself. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and the page keeps working offline once loaded.
Plotting in polar coordinates, where a point is a distance from the centre and an angle rather than an x and a y: polar equations in trigonometry and calculus, antenna radiation patterns, microphone pickup patterns, wind roses. Outside maths it is the layout sheet for anything round - clocks, dials, colour wheels, round embroidery and quilting.
360 divided by the number of radial lines: 12 lines are 30 degrees apart, 24 are 15, 36 are 10 and 72 are 5. The four axes at 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees are drawn heavier on every setting.
Not on this page; the radial lines are part of a polar grid. Set them to 12 for the sparsest version. A plain concentric-circle target is a different sheet.
No. The circles and lines are drawn on your device and the PDF, PNG or JPG is written locally. No account, no server.