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The curve of the chains of a suspension bridge is always an intermediate curve between a parabola and a catenary, but in practice the curve is generally nearer to a parabola due to the weight of the load (i.e. the road) being much larger than the cables themselves, and in calculations the second-degree polynomial formula of a parabola is used.
A chain hanging from points forms a catenary. The silk on a spider's web forming multiple elastic catenaries.. In physics and geometry, a catenary (US: / ˈ k æ t ən ɛr i / KAT-ən-err-ee, UK: / k ə ˈ t iː n ər i / kə-TEE-nər-ee) 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.
A family of conic sections of varying eccentricity share a focus point and directrix line, including an ellipse (red, e = 1/2), a parabola (green, e = 1), and a hyperbola (blue, e = 2). The conic of eccentricity 0 in this figure is an infinitesimal circle centered at the focus, and the conic of eccentricity ∞ is an infinitesimally separated ...
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 combinations thereof. [1] [2] [3]
Equivalence of a quadratic Bézier curve and a parabolic segment. A quadratic Bézier curve is also a segment of a parabola. As a parabola is a conic section, some sources refer to quadratic Béziers as "conic arcs". [12] With reference to the figure on the right, the important features of the parabola can be derived as follows: [13]
In addition to curves and surfaces, parametric equations can describe manifolds and algebraic varieties of higher dimension, with the number of parameters being equal to the dimension of the manifold or variety, and the number of equations being equal to the dimension of the space in which the manifold or variety is considered (for curves the ...
The endpoints (,) of the minor axis lie at the height of the asymptotes over/under the hyperbola's vertices. Either half of the minor axis is called the semi-minor axis, of length b . Denoting the semi-major axis length (distance from the center to a vertex) as a , the semi-minor and semi-major axes' lengths appear in the equation of the ...
In CAD area this is a drawback, because CAD systems use polynomials or rational curves. In order to get at least rational curves, the square root of the representation of the parallel curve has to be solvable. Such curves are called pythagorean hodograph curves and were investigated by R.T. Farouki. [14]