Parallel Curve
A parallel of a curve is the envelope of a family of congruent circles centered on the curve. It generalises the concept of '' 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, the term offset can also refer to 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. In the area of 2D computer graphics known as vector graphics, the (approximate) computation of parallel curves is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polyline
In geometry, a polygonal chain is a connected series of line segments. More formally, a polygonal chain is a curve specified by a sequence of points (A_1, A_2, \dots, A_n) called its vertices. The curve itself consists of the line segments connecting the consecutive vertices. Name A polygonal chain may also be called a polygonal curve, polygonal path, polyline,. piecewise linear curve, broken line or, in geographic information systems, a linestring or linear ring. Variations A simple polygonal chain is one in which only consecutive (or the first and the last) segments intersect and only at their endpoints. A closed polygonal chain is one in which the first vertex coincides with the last one, or, alternatively, the first and the last vertices are also connected by a line segment. A simple closed polygonal chain in the plane is the boundary of a simple polygon. Often the term "polygon" is used in the meaning of "closed polygonal chain", but in some cases it is important to d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Minkowski Sum
In geometry, the Minkowski sum (also known as dilation) of two sets of position vectors ''A'' and ''B'' in Euclidean space is formed by adding each vector in ''A'' to each vector in ''B'', i.e., the set : A + B = \. Analogously, the Minkowski difference (or geometric difference) is defined using the complement operation as : A - B = \left(A^c + (-B)\right)^c In general A - B \ne A + (-B). For instance, in a one-dimensional case A = 2, 2/math> and B = 1, 1/math> the Minkowski difference A - B = 1, 1/math>, whereas A + (-B) = A + B = 3, 3 In a two-dimensional case, Minkowski difference is closely related to erosion (morphology) in image processing. The concept is named for Hermann Minkowski. Example For example, if we have two sets ''A'' and ''B'', each consisting of three position vectors (informally, three points), representing the vertices of two triangles in \mathbb^2, with coordinates :A = \ and :B = \ then their Minkowski sum is :A + B = \ which com ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Evolute
In the differential geometry of curves, the evolute of a curve is the locus of all its 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 of the normals to a curve. The evolute of a curve, a surface, or more generally a submanifold, is the 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 ( 200 BC) discussed evolutes in Book V of his ''Conics''. However, Huygens is sometimes credited with being the first to study them (1673). Hu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cusp (singularity)
In mathematics, a cusp, sometimes called spinode in old texts, is a point on a curve where a moving point must reverse direction. A typical example is given in the figure. A cusp is thus a type of singular point of a curve. For a plane curve defined by an analytic, parametric equation :\begin x &= f(t)\\ y &= g(t), \end a cusp is a point where both derivatives of and are zero, and the directional derivative, in the direction of the tangent, changes sign (the direction of the tangent is the direction of the slope \lim (g'(t)/f'(t))). Cusps are ''local singularities'' in the sense that they involve only one value of the parameter , in contrast to self-intersection points that involve more than one value. In some contexts, the condition on the directional derivative may be omitted, although, in this case, the singularity may look like a regular point. For a curve defined by an implicit equation :F(x,y) = 0, which is smooth, cusps are points where the terms of lowest deg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Osculating Circle
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 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 Leibniz. The center and radius of the osculating circle at a given point are called center of curvature and radius of curvature of the curve at that point. A geometric construction was described by Isaac Newton in his '' Principia'': Nontechnical description Imagine a car moving along a curved road on a vast flat plane. Suddenly, at one point along the road, the steering wheel locks in its present position. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Curvature In mathematics, curvature is any of several strongly related concepts in geometry. Intuitively, the curvature is the amou |