One type of curve defined by a polar equation is a rose curve. The rose curve graph is often described as flower petals arranged around the pole. The petals are all congruent to each other and can have symmetry across the polar axis or the line [math]\theta=\frac{\pi}{2}[/math].[br][br][list][*]Rose graphs that are symmetric over the polar axis have an equation in the form [b]r = acos(nθ).[/b][/*][*]Rose graphs that are symmetric over the line [math]\theta=\frac{\pi}{2}[/math] have an equation in the form [b]r = asin(nθ).[/b][/*][*][b]a[/b] is the petal length[/*][*][b]n[/b] is the petal number[/*][*]If [b]n[/b] is odd, [b]n [/b]is the number of petals, and one petal will lie on the axis of symmetry.[/*][*]If [b]n[/b] is even, the number of petals is [b]2n.[/b] [/*][/list]

[list][*][b][/b][/*][/list][size=150][list][*][b]b[/b] represents the length of petal[/*][*][b]h [/b]and [b]k[/b] are parameters that determine the position of the petal in the coordinate system. [/*][*]Specifically, h represents the horizontal shift (along the x-axis)[/*][*][b]k[/b] represents the vertical shift (along the y-axis).[br][/*][*][b]n[/b] represents the number of petals [/*][*][b]v [/b]is the upper limit of the parameter t, it represents the endpoint of the interval over which you want to trace or display the curve. [br][/*][/list][/size]