-axis in the direction of increasing finds that a left-handed screw motion through 
(i.e. a anticlockwise rotation) is needed to bring the 
-axis into the position previously occupied by the 
-axis. [P6.2]
is: a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system (consisting of three mutually perpendicular coordinate axes which meet at a point called the origin), in which an observer located at the origin and looking along the -axis in the direction of increasing finds that a left-handed screw motion through (i.e. a anticlockwise rotation) is needed to bring the -axis into the position previously occupied by the -axis. [P6.2]
Contrast with right-handed coordinate system, which is more commonly used.
Copyright 1997, The Open University