Hi,

May I ask a question that has bugged me for some time.
I had a wall plack which was an ordinate and abscissa
consisting of evenly spaced nails embedded in the wood
about eight inches by eight.

Let's say the x axis and the y axis nails are numbered
from the origion 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...20. Then number
20 on the y axis is connected by a wire to number 1 on
the x axis, 19 on the y to 2 on the x, 18 on the y to
3 on the x, 17 on the y to 4 on the x...etc.

The effect was (very) roughly a quarter circle but
what exactly is the name of the curve that is
generated by this construction? Any mathematics would
be of interest.

Thank you very much.

Joseph Ferrara

--- curves_surfaces@yahoogroups.com wrote:

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> There is 1 message in this issue.
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> Topics in this digest:
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> 1. Re: Help Needed
> From: "glnarasimham"
> <glnarasimham@...>
>
>
>
________________________________________________________________________
>
________________________________________________________________________
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:00:55 -0000
> From: "glnarasimham" <glnarasimham@...>
> Subject: Re: Help Needed
>
> --- In curves_surfaces@yahoogroups.com, "aneesh
> venkatraman"
> <aneesh_82@y...> wrote:
> > I am looking for literature on the curve,
> "Alysoid". If anyone has
> > come across any book or a publication in which
> these curves are
> > described, please let me know. It is very urgent.
>
> Same as Catenary, a very familiar curve. From
> Mathworld Wolfram site:
>
> "The word catenary is derived from the Latin word
> for "chain." In
> 1669,Jungius disproved Galileo's claim that the
> curve of a chain
> hanging under gravity would be a parabola (MacTutor
> Archive). The
> curve is also called the alysoid and chainette. The
> equation was
> obtained by Leibniz , Huygens .."
>
>
>
>
>
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