Catacaustics for Some Graphs

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Vertical rays are reflected off the graph of a function and the corresponding catacaustic is plotted. The envelope of reflected or refracted lines coming from a point source is called a catacaustic or a diacaustic, respectively. In this case the source is infinitely far above the graph and the lines reflect off the graph as off a mirror.
Contributed by: Michael Rogers (Oxford College of Emory University) (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
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"Catacaustics for Some Graphs"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/CatacausticsForSomeGraphs/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: March 7 2011