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Radius of curvature and center of curvature. In differential geometry, the radius of curvature, R, 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 of a circle that best fits a normal section or ...
Historically, the curvature of a differentiable curve was defined through the osculating circle, which is the circle that best approximates the curve at a point. More precisely, given a point P on a curve, every other point Q of the curve defines a circle (or sometimes a line) passing through Q and tangent to the curve at P.
Slope illustrated for y = (3/2)x − 1.Click on to enlarge Slope of a line in coordinates system, from f(x) = −12x + 2 to f(x) = 12x + 2. The slope of a line in the plane containing the x and y axes is generally represented by the letter m, [5] and is defined as the change in the y coordinate divided by the corresponding change in the x coordinate, between two distinct points on the line.
The slope of a nonvertical line is a number that measures how steeply the line is slanted (rise-over-run). If the line is the graph of the linear function f ( x ) = a x + b {\displaystyle f(x)=ax+b} , this slope is given by the constant a .
The line with equation ax + by + c = 0 has slope -a/b, so any line perpendicular to it will have slope b/a (the negative reciprocal). Let ( m , n ) be the point of intersection of the line ax + by + c = 0 and the line perpendicular to it which passes through the point ( x 0 , y 0 ).
It is a (non-linear) curve which a circle of radius a rolling on a straight line, with its center at the x axis, intersects perpendicularly at all times. The function admits a horizontal asymptote. The curve is symmetrical with respect to the y-axis. The curvature radius is r = a cot x / y .
Curvature is usually measured in radius of curvature.A small circle can be easily laid out by just using radius of curvature, but degree of curvature is more convenient for calculating and laying out the curve if the radius is as large as a kilometer or mile, as is needed for large scale works like roads and railroads.
A curve, which intersects any curve of a given pencil of (planar) curves by a fixed angle is called isogonal trajectory. Between the slope η ′ {\displaystyle \eta '} of an isogonal trajectory and the slope y ′ {\displaystyle y'} of the curve of the pencil at a point ( x , y ) {\displaystyle (x,y)} the following relation holds: