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Evolute
In the differential geometry of curves, the evolute of a curve is the locus (mathematics), locus of all its Center of curvature, centers of curvature. That is to say that when the center of curvature of each point on a curve is drawn, the resultant shape will be the evolute of that curve. The evolute of a circle is therefore a single point at its center. Equivalently, an evolute is the envelope (mathematics), envelope of the perpendicular, normals to a curve. The evolute of a curve, a surface, or more generally a submanifold, is the caustic (mathematics), caustic of the normal map. Let be a smooth, regular submanifold in . For each point in and each vector , based at and normal to , we associate the point . This defines a Lagrangian map, called the normal map. The caustic of the normal map is the evolute of . Evolutes are closely connected to involutes: A curve is the evolute of any of its involutes. History Apollonius of Perga, Apollonius ( 200 BC) discussed evolut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Involute
In mathematics, an involute (also known as an evolvent) is a particular type of curve that is dependent on another shape or curve. An involute of a curve is the Locus (mathematics), locus of a point on a piece of taut string as the string is either unwrapped from or wrapped around the curve. The evolute of an involute is the original curve. It is generalized by the Roulette (curve), roulette family of curves. That is, the involutes of a curve are the roulettes of the curve generated by a straight line. The notions of the involute and evolute of a curve were introduced by Christiaan Huygens in his work titled ''Horologium Oscillatorium, Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum ad horologia aptato demonstrationes geometricae'' (1673), where he showed that the involute of a cycloid is still a cycloid, thus providing a method for constructing the cycloidal pendulum, which has the useful property that its period is independent of the amplitude of oscillation. Involute of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, Halen, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , ; ; also spelled Huyghens; ; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution. In physics, Huygens made seminal contributions to optics and mechanics, while as an astronomer he studied the rings of Saturn and discovered its largest moon, Titan (moon), Titan. As an engineer and inventor, he improved the design of telescopes and invented the pendulum clock, the most accurate timekeeper for almost 300 years. A talented mathematician and physicist, his works contain the first idealization of a physical problem by a set of Mathematical model, mathematical parameters, and the first mathematical and mechanistic explanation of an unobservable physical phenomenon.Dijksterhuis, F.J. (2008) Stevin, Huygens and the Dutch republic. ''Nieuw archief voor wiskunde'', ''5'', pp. 100–10/ref> Huygens first identified the correct la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertex (curve)
In the geometry of plane curves, a vertex is a point of where the first derivative of curvature is zero. This is typically a local maximum or minimum of curvature, and some authors define a vertex to be more specifically a local extremum of curvature. However, other special cases may occur, for instance when the second derivative is also zero, or when the curvature is constant. For space curves, on the other hand, a vertex is a point where the torsion vanishes. Examples A hyperbola has two vertices, one on each branch; they are the closest of any two points lying on opposite branches of the hyperbola, and they lie on the principal axis. On a parabola, the sole vertex lies on the axis of symmetry and in a quadratic of the form: :ax^2 + bx + c\,\! it can be found by completing the square or by differentiation., p. 127. On an ellipse, two of the four vertices lie on the major axis and two lie on the minor axis. For a circle, which has constant curvature, every point is a ver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osculating Circle
An osculating circle is a circle that best approximates the curvature of a curve at a specific point. It is tangent to the curve at that point and has the same curvature as the curve at that point. The osculating circle provides a way to understand the local behavior of a curve and is commonly used in differential geometry and calculus. More formally, in differential geometry of curves, the osculating circle of a sufficiently smooth plane curve at a given point ''p'' on the curve has been traditionally defined as the circle passing through ''p'' and a pair of additional points on the curve infinitesimally close to ''p''. Its center lies on the inner Normal (geometry), normal line, and its curvature defines the curvature of the given curve at that point. This circle, which is the one among all ''tangent circles'' at the given point that approaches the curve most tightly, was named ''circulus osculans'' (Latin for "kissing circle") by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Leibniz. The cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astroid
In mathematics, an astroid is a particular type of roulette curve: a hypocycloid with four cusp (singularity), cusps. Specifically, it is the Locus (mathematics), locus of a point on a circle as it Rolling, rolls inside a fixed circle with four times the radius. By double generation, it is also the locus of a point on a circle as it rolls inside a fixed circle with 4/3 times the radius. It can also be defined as the Envelope (mathematics), envelope of a line segment of fixed length that moves while keeping an end point on each of the axes. It is therefore the Envelope (mathematics), envelope of the moving bar in the Trammel of Archimedes. Its modern name comes from the Greek word for "star". It was proposed, originally in the form of "Astrois", by Joseph Johann von Littrow in 1838. The curve had a variety of names, including tetracuspid (still used), cubocycloid, and paracycle. It is nearly identical in form to the evolute of an ellipse. Equations If the radius of the fixed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycloid
In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it Rolling, rolls along a Line (geometry), straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette (curve), roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve. The cycloid, with the Cusp (singularity), cusps pointing upward, is the curve of fastest descent under uniform gravity (the brachistochrone curve). It is also the form of a curve for which the Frequency, period of an object in simple harmonic motion (rolling up and down repetitively) along the curve does not depend on the object's starting position (the tautochrone curve). In physics, when a charged particle at rest is put under a uniform Electric field, electric and magnetic field perpendicular to one another, the particle’s trajectory draws out a cycloid. History The cycloid has been called "The Helen of Geometers" as, like Helen of Troy, it caused frequent quarrels among 17th-centur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Curve
A parallel of a curve is the envelope (mathematics), envelope of a family of Congruence (geometry), congruent circles centered on the curve. It generalises the concept of ''parallel (geometry), parallel (straight) lines''. It can also be defined as a curve whose points are at a constant ''normal distance'' from a given curve. These two definitions are not entirely equivalent as the latter assumes smoothness, whereas the former does not. In computer-aided design the preferred term for a parallel curve is offset curve. (In other geometric contexts, offset (other), the term offset can also refer to Translation (geometry), translation.) Offset curves are important, for example, in numerically controlled machining, where they describe, for example, the shape of the cut made by a round cutting tool of a two-axis machine. The shape of the cut is offset from the trajectory of the cutter by a constant distance in the direction normal to the cutter trajectory at every point. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycloid Osculating Circle Evolute 2
In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve. The cycloid, with the cusps pointing upward, is the curve of fastest descent under uniform gravity (the brachistochrone curve). It is also the form of a curve for which the period of an object in simple harmonic motion (rolling up and down repetitively) along the curve does not depend on the object's starting position (the tautochrone curve). In physics, when a charged particle at rest is put under a uniform electric and magnetic field perpendicular to one another, the particle’s trajectory draws out a cycloid. History The cycloid has been called "The Helen of Geometers" as, like Helen of Troy, it caused frequent quarrels among 17th-century mathematicians, while Sarah Hart sees it named as such "because the properties of thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tait–Kneser Theorem
In differential geometry, the Tait–Kneser theorem states that, if a smooth plane curve has monotonic curvature, then the osculating circles of the curve are disjoint and nested within each other. The logarithmic spiral or the pictured Archimedean spiral provide examples of curves whose curvature is monotonic for the entire curve. This monotonicity cannot happen for a simple closed curve (by the four-vertex theorem, there are at least four vertices where the curvature reaches an extreme point) but for such curves the theorem can be applied to the arcs of the curves between its vertices. The theorem is named after Peter Tait, who published it in 1896, and Adolf Kneser, who rediscovered it and published it in 1912. Tait's proof follows simply from the properties of the evolute, the curve traced out by the centers of osculating circles. For curves with monotone curvature, the arc length along the evolute between two centers equals the difference in radii of the corresponding circ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semicubic Parabola
In mathematics, a cuspidal cubic or semicubical parabola is an algebraic plane curve that has an implicit equation of the form : y^2 - a^2 x^3 = 0 (with ) in some Cartesian coordinate system. Solving for leads to the ''explicit form'' : y = \pm a x^, which imply that every real number, real point satisfies . The exponent explains the term ''semicubical parabola''. (A parabola can be described by the equation .) Solving the implicit equation for yields a second ''explicit form'' :x = \left(\frac\right)^. The parametric equation : \quad x = t^2, \quad y = a t^3 can also be deduced from the implicit equation by putting t = \frac. . The semicubical parabolas have a Cusp (singularity), cuspidal singularity; hence the name of ''cuspidal cubic''. The arc length of the curve was calculated by the English mathematician William Neile and published in 1657 (see #History, section History). Properties of semicubical parabolas Similarity Any semicubical parabola (t^2,at^3) is Simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caustic (mathematics)
In differential geometry, a caustic is the envelope of rays either reflected or refracted by a manifold. It is related to the concept of caustics in geometric optics. The ray's source may be a point (called the radiant) or parallel rays from a point at infinity, in which case a direction vector of the rays must be specified. More generally, especially as applied to symplectic geometry and singularity theory, a caustic is the critical value set of a Lagrangian mapping where is a Lagrangian immersion of a Lagrangian submanifold ''L'' into a symplectic manifold ''M'', and is a Lagrangian fibration of the symplectic manifold ''M''. The caustic is a subset of the Lagrangian fibration's base space ''B''. Explanation Concentration of light, especially sunlight, can burn. The word ''caustic'', in fact, comes from the Greek καυστός, burnt, via the Latin ''causticus'', burning. A common situation where caustics are visible is when light shines on a drinking glass. The g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Envelope (mathematics)
In geometry, an envelope of a planar family of curves is a curve that is tangent to each member of the family at some point, and these points of tangency together form the whole envelope. Classically, a point on the envelope can be thought of as the intersection of two " infinitesimally adjacent" curves, meaning the limit of intersections of nearby curves. This idea can be generalized to an envelope of surfaces in space, and so on to higher dimensions. To have an envelope, it is necessary that the individual members of the family of curves are differentiable curves as the concept of tangency does not apply otherwise, and there has to be a smooth transition proceeding through the members. But these conditions are not sufficient – a given family may fail to have an envelope. A simple example of this is given by a family of concentric circles of expanding radius. Envelope of a family of curves Let each curve ''C''''t'' in the family be given as the solution of an equation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
