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Curvature Center


The point on the positive ray of the normal vector at a distance rho(s), where rho is the radius of curvature. It is given by

z=x+rhoN
(1)
=x+rho^2(dT)/(ds),
(2)

where N is the normal vector and T is the tangent vector. It can be written in terms of x explicitly as

 z=x+(x^('')(x^'·x^')^2-x^'(x^'·x^')(x^'·x^('')))/((x^'·x^')(x^('')·x^(''))-(x^'·x^(''))^2).
(3)

For a curve represented parametrically by (f(t),g(t)),

alpha=f-((f^('2)+g^('2))g^')/(f^'g^('')-f^('')g^')
(4)
beta=g+((f^('2)+g^('2))f^')/(f^'g^('')-f^('')g^')
(5)

(Lawrence 1972, p. 25).


See also

Curvature, Osculating Circle

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References

Gray, A. Modern Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces with Mathematica, 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1997.Lawrence, J. D. A Catalog of Special Plane Curves. New York: Dover, 1972.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Curvature Center

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Curvature Center." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CurvatureCenter.html

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