In
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
, an intrinsic equation of a
curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...
is an
equation
In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in ...
that defines the curve using a
relation
Relation or relations may refer to:
General uses
*International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level
*Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people
*Public ...
between the curve's intrinsic properties, that is, properties that do not depend on the location and possibly the orientation of the curve. Therefore an intrinsic equation defines the shape of the curve without specifying its position relative to an arbitrarily defined
coordinate system
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...
.
The intrinsic quantities used most often are
arc length
ARC may refer to:
Business
* Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s
* Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services
* ...
,
tangential angle
In geometry, the tangential angle of a curve in the Cartesian plane, at a specific point, is the angle between the tangent line to the curve at the given point and the -axis. (Some authors define the angle as the deviation from the direction of t ...
,
curvature
In mathematics, curvature is any of several strongly related concepts in geometry. Intuitively, the curvature is the amount by which a curve deviates from being a straight line, or a surface deviates from being a plane.
For curves, the canonic ...
or
radius of curvature
In differential geometry, the radius of curvature, , is the reciprocal of the curvature. For a curve, it equals the radius of the circular arc which best approximates the curve at that point. For surfaces, the radius of curvature is the radius o ...
, and, for 3-dimensional curves,
torsion
Torsion may refer to:
Science
* Torsion (mechanics), the twisting of an object due to an applied torque
* Torsion of spacetime, the field used in Einstein–Cartan theory and
** Alternatives to general relativity
* Torsion angle, in chemistry
Bi ...
. Specifically:
* The
natural equation
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
is the curve given by its curvature and torsion.
* The
Whewell equation
The Whewell equation of a plane curve is an equation that relates the tangential angle () with arclength (), where the tangential angle is the angle between the tangent to the curve and the -axis, and the arc length is the distance along the cur ...
is obtained as a relation between arc length and tangential angle.
* The
Cesàro equation In geometry, the Cesàro equation of a plane curve is an equation relating the curvature () at a point of the curve to the arc length () from the start of the curve to the given point. It may also be given as an equation relating the radius of curv ...
is obtained as a relation between arc length and curvature.
The equation of a circle (including a line) for example is given by the equation
where
is the arc length,
the curvature and
the radius of the circle.
These coordinates greatly simplify some physical problem. For elastic rods for example, the potential energy is given by
:
where
is the bending modulus
. Moreover, as
, elasticity of rods can be given a simple
variational form.
References
*
*
External links
*{{MathWorld , title=Intrinsic Equation , urlname=IntrinsicEquation
Curves
Equations