Polar graph paper
Concentric rings crossed by radial spokes, for plotting in polar coordinates — and for mandalas, radar charts and circular design.
Opens with these settings already loaded. Change anything you like, then download as PDF, PNG or SVG.
Reading polar coordinates
A point is given as (r, θ): distance from the centre, then angle. The rings give you r and the spokes give you θ. With the default 15° spokes there are 24 around the circle, so each spoke is a multiple of 15° and the four cardinal directions fall on heavier lines. Set spokes to 30° for a coarser grid, or 5° when you need to read angles precisely.
What gets plotted on it
Polar paper is standard for antenna radiation patterns, microphone pickup patterns, wind roses in meteorology, and any curve more naturally expressed in r and θ than x and y — roses, cardioids, spirals and limaçons all become simple on it and are painful on Cartesian paper.
Non-mathematical uses
The same sheet is widely used for mandala and rangoli design, for laying out circular quilt medallions, and for radar or spider charts comparing several variables. For design work rather than plotting, a finer ring spacing with fewer spokes usually looks better.
Printing it accurately
This only measures correctly if your printer doesn't rescale the page. In the print dialog set Scale: 100% — not "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages". If you're not sure it worked, print the calibration page, measure the ruler on it with a real ruler, and it will tell you exactly what your printer is doing to the page.