To show you how all these mathematical objects and definitions can be applied

on mechanics, we will derive the formulas for uniform circular motion

you are most likely already familiar with from your high school physics
classes.
Consider a point-like particle rotating uniformly along a circular trajectory.
Uniformly means that during equal times, a radius vector pointing from the
center of the circle to the position of the particle sweeps out sectors of the
circle of equal area. In other terms, the angular velocity ! of the motion is
constant.
First we introduce a Cartesian coordinate frame enabling us to give an analytic
description of motion of the particle as it rotates along the circle. You
might have realized that motion of the particle is constrained to the plane of
the circle, which means it is two-dimensional. It seems natural to describe
two-dimensional motion in a just two-dimensional coordinate system xy lying
in the plane of the circle. Any other choice would mean we would have to deal
with an unnecessary third coordinate. If the origin of this frame coincides
with the center of the circle, we can expect the expressions and equations
involved in mathematical description of the situation to assume quite simple
forms. After all, the geometrical symmetries of the situation must be found
in the equations describing it.
From your courses in analytic geometry, you might be used to the convention
of choosing the axes describing circular motion in such a way that anticlockwise
motion in the xy-plane corresponds to positive rotation, that is, the
polar angle ' increases with time as the particle moves along the circle. Remember
that this is just a convention. One could wo