
Imagine two lines revolving at a constant rate round two different points (poles).
The intersection of the two lines make a sectrix of Maclaurin.
The name comes from the trisectrix of Maclaurin (see below), together with the sectrix quality (able to divide an angle).
Parameters a and 1/a give the same curves, so we can confine ourselves to the case |a|>=1.
For a=1, the curve is a line.
For b=0, two curve groups can be distinguished:
- parameter a is an integer: the curve is called an arachnida1) or
araneidan.
For a=2, the curve is a circle.
For a=3: we see the cubic trisectrix of Maclaurin2).
Colin Maclaurin was the first to study the curve (in 1742), while
looking at the ancient Greek problem of the trisection of an angle: the angle formed by points ABP is three times the angle formed by AOP
for points P of the trisectrix.
The area of the loop is equal to 3√3, and the distance from the origin to the point where the curve cuts the x-axis is equal to 3.
Some relationships with other curves are the following:
The curve is an anallagmatic curve,
and also an epi spiral (a=1/3).
Freeth (1819-1904) described in a paper published by the London
Mathematical Society (1879) the strophoid
of the trisectrix.
For larger values for the parameter a we see better the spiderly character of the curve:
A negative parameter a gives a variant on the curve, consisting of a number of (a) hyperbolic branches:
- parameter a is a rational number: the curve is an Plateau curve.
The curve is named after the Belgian physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883).
Some examples:
For a=3/2 the curve is the (limaçon) trisectrix.
When parameter a is positive, the curve consists of a number of elliptic forms.
The number of elliptics is equal to the denominator of the parameter.
When parameter a is negative, the curve consists of a number of hyperbolic forms.
The number of hyperbolics is equal to the sum of the nominator and denominator minus 1:
notes
1) From the Greek word αραχνη that means spider.
2) Cartesian equation: x3 + xy2 - 3x2 - y2 = 0,
or: 2x3 + 2xy2 - 3x2 + y2 = 0.
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