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  2. Radius of curvature - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radius_of_curvature

    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 ...

  3. Degree of curvature - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_of_curvature

    Where degree of curvature is based on 100 units of arc length, the conversion between degree of curvature and radius is Dr = 18000/π ≈ 5729.57795, where D is degree and r is radius. Since rail routes have very large radii, they are laid out in chords, as the difference to the arc is inconsequential; this made work easier before electronic ...

  4. Curvature - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curvature

    The curvature is the reciprocal of radius of curvature. That is, the curvature is =, where R is the radius of curvature [5] (the whole circle has this curvature, it can be read as turn 2π over the length 2π R). This definition is difficult to manipulate and to express in formulas.

  5. Polar coordinate system - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_coordinate_system

    In green, the point with radial coordinate 3 and angular coordinate 60 degrees or (3, 60°). In blue, the point (4, 210°). In mathematics, the polar coordinate system is a two-dimensional coordinate system in which each point on a plane is determined by a distance from a reference point and an angle from a reference direction.

  6. Osculating circle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osculating_circle

    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:

  7. Great-circle distance - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-circle_distance

    When calculating the length of a short north-south line at the equator, the circle that best approximates that line has a radius of (which equals the meridian's semi-latus rectum), or 6335.439 km, while the spheroid at the poles is best approximated by a sphere of radius , or 6399.594 km, a 1% difference. So long as a spherical Earth is assumed ...

  8. Torsion of a curve - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_of_a_curve

    A plane curve with non-vanishing curvature has zero torsion at all points. Conversely, if the torsion of a regular curve with non-vanishing curvature is identically zero, then this curve belongs to a fixed plane. The curvature and the torsion of a helix are constant. Conversely, any space curve whose curvature and torsion are both constant and ...

  9. Euler spiral - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_spiral

    Animation depicting evolution of a Cornu spiral with the tangential circle with the same radius of curvature as at its tip, also known as an osculating circle.. To travel along a circular path, an object needs to be subject to a centripetal acceleration (for example: the Moon circles around the Earth because of gravity; a car turns its front wheels inward to generate a centripetal force).