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I want to plot the data that I got from measuring the angular dependency of the radiation intensity of a microwave emitter.

My data: 

data = {
  {-90, 0}, {-85, 0.15}, {-80, 0}, {-75, 0}, {-70, 0}, {-65, 0}, {-60, 0.2}, 
  {-55, 0}, {-50, 0}, {-45, 0.275}, {-40, 0.225}, {-35, 0.425}, {-30, 0.55}, 
  {-25, 0.65}, {-20, 0.75}, {-15, 0.85}, {-10, 0.9}, {-5, 1}, {0, 0.975}, 
  {5, 0.9}, {10, 0.8}, {15, 0.725}, {20, 0.635}, {25, 0.475}, {30, 0.425}, 
  {35, 0.2}, {40, 0.15}, {45, 0.175}, {50, 0.15}, {55, 0}, {60, 0}, {65, 0}, 
  {70, 0}, {75, 0}, {80, 0}, {85, 0}, {90, 0}
}

enter image description here

As you can see my data ranges from -90 to 90 degree in 5 degree steps.

Now, if I try to plot this using ListPolarPlot[] it gets kind of messy:

ListPolarPlot[data, 
  PolarAxes -> True, PolarTicks -> {"Degrees", Automatic}, Joined -> True]

enter image description here

It should look somewhat like this:

enter image description here

What do I have to do to get a proper polar plot?

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2
  • $\begingroup$ @m_goldberg Careful! you would be messing with the radiation intensity $\endgroup$
    – Ivan
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 3:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Ivan. You are right. I have retracted my comment. $\endgroup$
    – m_goldberg
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 3:30

2 Answers 2

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You need the angles in radians in your data:

data2 = {#[[1]]*Pi/180, #[[2]]} & /@ data;

Or

data2 = {#[[1]] Degree, #[[2]]} & /@ data;

Then plot

ListPolarPlot[data2, PolarAxes -> True,
   PolarTicks -> {"Degrees", Automatic}, Joined -> True, PolarGridLines -> True]

enter image description here

UPDATE

To show only part of the circle, play around with the PlotRange option. And to show negative angles, specify them in PolarThicks option.

 ListPolarPlot[data2, PolarAxes -> True, Joined -> True, PolarGridLines -> True,
    PolarTicks -> {Table[i, {i, -90, 90, 15}] Degree, Automatic},
    PlotRange -> {{0, 1}, {-1, 1}}]

enter image description here

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4
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ BTW: Degree is built-in… $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Jul 12, 2015 at 23:28
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thank you. Is there a way of only showing 90 to 270 degrees? And can I change 0,359,358,...,270 degree to 0,-1,-2,...-90 degree? $\endgroup$
    – kaos
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 10:53
  • $\begingroup$ @kaos I updated my post. Check it out. $\endgroup$
    – Ivan
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 20:06
  • $\begingroup$ Cool. Thank you :) $\endgroup$
    – kaos
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 20:34
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You might try this simple way to convert your data.

data[[All, 1]] = data[[All, 1]] Degree
ListPolarPlot[data, 
  PolarAxes -> True, PolarGridLines -> True, PolarTicks -> {"Degrees", Automatic}, 
  Joined -> True]

plot

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1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ data[[All, 1]] *= Degree will work, too. $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 0:23

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