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Roulette (curve)
In the differential geometry of curves, a roulette is a kind of curve, generalizing cycloids, epicycloids, hypocycloids, trochoids, epitrochoids, hypotrochoids, and involutes. Definition Informal definition Roughly speaking, a roulette is the curve described by a point (called the ''generator'' or ''pole'') attached to a given curve as that curve rolls without slipping, along a second given curve that is fixed. More precisely, given a curve attached to a plane which is moving so that the curve rolls, without slipping, along a given curve attached to a fixed plane occupying the same space, then a point attached to the moving plane describes a curve, in the fixed plane called a roulette. Special cases and related concepts In the case where the rolling curve is a line and the generator is a point on the line, the roulette is called an involute of the fixed curve. If the rolling curve is a circle and the fixed curve is a line then the roulette is a trochoid. If, in this cas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Geometry Of Curves
Differential geometry of curves is the branch of geometry that deals with smooth curves in the plane and the Euclidean space by methods of differential and integral calculus. Many specific curves have been thoroughly investigated using the synthetic approach. Differential geometry takes another path: curves are represented in a parametrized form, and their geometric properties and various quantities associated with them, such as the curvature and the arc length, are expressed via derivatives and integrals using vector calculus. One of the most important tools used to analyze a curve is the Frenet frame, a moving frame that provides a coordinate system at each point of the curve that is "best adapted" to the curve near that point. The theory of curves is much simpler and narrower in scope than the theory of surfaces and its higher-dimensional generalizations because a regular curve in a Euclidean space has no intrinsic geometry. Any regular curve may be parametrized by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instant Centre Of Rotation
The instant center of rotation (also, instantaneous velocity center, instantaneous center, or instant center) is the point fixed to a body undergoing planar movement that has zero velocity at a particular instant of time. At this instant, the velocity vectors of the other points in the body generate a circular field around this point which is identical to what is generated by a pure rotation. Planar movement of a body is often described using a plane figure moving in a two-dimensional plane. The instant center is the point in the moving plane around which all other points are rotating at a specific instant of time. The continuous movement of a plane has an instant center for every value of the time parameter. This generates a curve called the moving centrode. The points in the fixed plane corresponding to these instant centers form the fixed centrode. The generalization of this concept to 3-dimensional space is that of a twist around a screw. The screw has an axis which is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conic Section
In mathematics, a conic section, quadratic curve or conic is a curve obtained as the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, though historically it was sometimes called a fourth type. The ancient Greek mathematicians studied conic sections, culminating around 200 BC with Apollonius of Perga's systematic work on their properties. The conic sections in the Euclidean plane have various distinguishing properties, many of which can be used as alternative definitions. One such property defines a non-circular conic to be the set of those points whose distances to some particular point, called a ''focus'', and some particular line, called a ''directrix'', are in a fixed ratio, called the ''eccentricity''. The type of conic is determined by the value of the eccentricity. In analytic geometry, a conic may be defined as a plane algebraic curv ... [...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 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). History The cycloid has been called "The Helen of Geometers" as it caused frequent quarrels among 17th-century mathematicians. Historians of mathematics have proposed several candidates for the discoverer of the cycloid. Mathematical historian Paul Tannery cited similar work by the Syrian philosopher Iamblichus as evidence that the curve was known in antiquity. English mathematician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trochoid
In geometry, a trochoid () is a roulette curve formed by a circle rolling along a line. It is the curve traced out by a point fixed to a circle (where the point may be on, inside, or outside the circle) as it rolls along a straight line. If the point is on the circle, the trochoid is called ''common'' (also known as a cycloid); if the point is inside the circle, the trochoid is ''curtate''; and if the point is outside the circle, the trochoid is ''prolate''. The word "trochoid" was coined by Gilles de Roberval. Basic description As a circle of radius rolls without slipping along a line , the center moves parallel to , and every other point in the rotating plane rigidly attached to the circle traces the curve called the trochoid. Let . Parametric equations of the trochoid for which is the -axis are :\begin & x = a\theta - b \sin \theta \\ & y = a - b \cos \theta \end where is the variable angle through which the circle rolls. Curtate, common, prolate If lies inside the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is constant. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. Usually, the radius is required to be a positive number. A circle with r=0 (a single point) is a degenerate case. This article is about circles in Euclidean geometry, and, in particular, the Euclidean plane, except where otherwise noted. Specifically, a circle is a simple closed curve that divides the plane into two regions: an interior and an exterior. In everyday use, the term "circle" may be used interchangeably to refer to either the boundary of the figure, or to the whole figure including its interior; in strict technical usage, the circle is only the boundary and the whole figure is called a '' disc''. A circle may also be defined as a specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclogon
In geometry, a cyclogon is the curve traced by a vertex of a polygon that rolls without slipping along a straight line. There are no restrictions on the nature of the polygon. It can be a regular polygon like an equilateral triangle or a square. The polygon need not even be convex: it could even be a star-shaped polygon. More generally, the curves traced by points other than vertices have also been considered. In such cases it would be assumed that the tracing point is rigidly attached to the polygon. If the tracing point is located outside the polygon, then the curve is called a ''prolate cyclogon'', and if it lies inside the polygon it is called a ''curtate cyclogon''. In the limit, as the number of sides increases to infinity, the cyclogon becomes a cycloid. The cyclogon has an interesting property regarding its area. Let denote the area of the region above the line and below one of the arches, let denote the area of the rolling polygon, and let denote the area of the disk ... [...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 of a point on a piece of taut string as the string is either unwrapped from or wrapped around the curve. It is a class of curves coming under the roulette family of curves. The evolute of an involute is the original curve. The notions of the involute and evolute of a curve were introduced by Christiaan Huygens in his work titled '' Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum ad horologia aptato demonstrationes geometricae'' (1673). Involute of a parameterized curve Let \vec c(t),\; t\in _1,t_2 be a regular curve in the plane with its curvature nowhere 0 and a\in (t_1,t_2), then the curve with the parametric representation \vec C_a(t)=\vec c(t) -\frac\; \int_a^t, \vec c'(w), \; dw is an ''involute'' of the given curve. Adding an arbitrary but fixed number l_0 to the integral \Bigl(\int_a^t, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line (mathematics)
In geometry, a line is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature. Thus, lines are one-dimensional objects, though they may exist in two, three, or higher dimension spaces. The word ''line'' may also refer to a line segment in everyday life, which has two points to denote its ends. Lines can be referred by two points that lay on it (e.g., \overleftrightarrow) or by a single letter (e.g., \ell). Euclid described a line as "breadthless length" which "lies evenly with respect to the points on itself"; he introduced several postulates as basic unprovable properties from which he constructed all of geometry, which is now called Euclidean geometry to avoid confusion with other geometries which have been introduced since the end of the 19th century (such as non-Euclidean, projective and affine geometry). In modern mathematics, given the multitude of geometries, the concept of a line is closely tied to the way the geometry is described. For instance, in analyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Square Wheel
A square wheel is a wheel that, instead of being circular, has the shape of a square. While literal square wheels exist, a more common use is as an idiom meaning feeling bad and naive (see reinventing the wheel). A square wheel can roll smoothly if the ground consists of evenly shaped inverted catenaries of the right size and curvature. A different type of square-wheeled vehicle was invented in 2006 by Jason Winckler of Global Composites, Inc. in the United States. This has square wheels, linked together and offset by 22.5°, rolling on a flat surface. The prototype appears ungainly, but the inventor proposes that the system may be useful in microscopic-sized machines (MEMS). In 1997 Macalester College mathematics professor Stan Wagon constructed the first prototype of a catenary tricycle. An improved model made out of modern materials was built when the original vehicle wore out in April, 2004. In 2012, '' MythBusters'' experimented with modifying vehicles with square tir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line (mathematics)
In geometry, a line is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature. Thus, lines are one-dimensional objects, though they may exist in two, three, or higher dimension spaces. The word ''line'' may also refer to a line segment in everyday life, which has two points to denote its ends. Lines can be referred by two points that lay on it (e.g., \overleftrightarrow) or by a single letter (e.g., \ell). Euclid described a line as "breadthless length" which "lies evenly with respect to the points on itself"; he introduced several postulates as basic unprovable properties from which he constructed all of geometry, which is now called Euclidean geometry to avoid confusion with other geometries which have been introduced since the end of the 19th century (such as non-Euclidean, projective and affine geometry). In modern mathematics, given the multitude of geometries, the concept of a line is closely tied to the way the geometry is described. For instance, in analyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catenary
In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola, which it is not. The curve appears in the design of certain types of arches and as a cross section of the catenoid—the shape assumed by a soap film bounded by two parallel circular rings. The catenary is also called the alysoid, chainette, MathWorld or, particularly in the materials sciences, funicular. Rope statics describes catenaries in a classic statics problem involving a hanging rope. Mathematically, the catenary curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function. The surface of revolution of the catenary curve, the catenoid, is a minimal surface, specifically a minimal surface of revolution. A hanging chain will assume a shape of least potential energy which is a catenary. Galil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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