Osculating Circles: Discover Page

Interact with Limits of Circles through 3 Points

The applet has a menu of curves in the main window and the radius of curvature plot is shown for each curve. The three vertical lines in the curvature plot correspond to the positions of the three points on the curve and the horizontal line connecting them is at the height of the radius of the circle shown in the main window.

Dangerous Bend: Since the radius of curvature are the reciprocal of curvature, local minima of curvature are local maxima in the radius of curvature, and local maxima of curvature are local minima in the radius of curvature.

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Go back to the concept page to learn some of the properties of osculating circles.


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