The triangle bounded by the polars of the vertices of a triangle with respect to a conic is called its polar triangle. The following table summarizes polar triangles of named triangle conics that correspond to named triangles.
Another usage of the term applies in the elliptic plane or on a sphere, where the pole of a line is a point that is at an arc length of radians from each point of the line, in the same way that the poles of the Earth are a quarter circle away from the equator. Two spherical triangles are mutually polar if each vertex of one is the pole of an edge of the other, and the arc length in radians of that edge is supplementary to the interior angle at its pole. On a sphere, the polar triangle lies in the same hemisphere as the original triangle.
The arc lengths of the principal circumradius of a spherical triangle and the inradius of its polar triangle sum to . The principal circumcenter of a spherical triangle is the incenter of its polar triangle. The altitude from a vertex of a spherical triangle passes through the pole of the opposite edge. The altitudes of a spherical triangle and its polar triangle are concurrent at the mutual orthocenter of both triangles.