The Trammel of Archimedes

Initializing live version
Download to Desktop

Requires a Wolfram Notebook System

Interact on desktop, mobile and cloud with the free Wolfram Player or other Wolfram Language products.

This Demonstration shows the construction of an ellipse using a rod fixed to two green points on the brown cross. As you elongate the ellipse, the size of the cross required changes accordingly. When the cross disappears (at ), the two green points coincide and a circle is produced.

[more]

The parametric equations for the ellipse are ,

[less]

Contributed by: Jamie Wickham-Jones (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


Snapshots


Details



Feedback (field required)
Email (field required) Name
Occupation Organization
Note: Your message & contact information may be shared with the author of any specific Demonstration for which you give feedback.
Send