Cartesian to polar coordinate transformation

In an improved Cartesian to polar coordinate transformation, a Cartesian system of discrete data elements is converted to a polar system of discrete data elements. Each Cartesian element is divided into subelements and one of the subelements is designated as the polar system origin. A polar system comprising an intersecting plurality of radial sector lines and a plurality of confocal arcs formed of the subelements is defined about the origin. The lines and arcs define boundaries of polar data elements. The subelements lying within the polar element boundaries are identified and their respective data values are derived from the data values of corresponding Cartesian elements. Polar element data values are calculated based on the data values of the subelements contributing to the polar element. The present transformation technique offers the advantage of few floating point operations and provides a computationally efficient conversion system readily adaptive to changes in system parameters.