Name the Curve - Easier Version

Algebra Level 3

What type of curve is given by the parametric equations?

{ x = ± 2 ( 1 t 3 ) 3 2 y = ± 2 ( t 3 ) 3 2 for 0 < t < 3 \begin{cases} x=\pm2\left(1-\dfrac{t}{3}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}} \\ y=\pm2\left(\dfrac{t}{3}\right)^\frac{3}{2} \end{cases} \text{for } 0<t<3

Bonus: Can you figure out what's so special about this particular parametrization of this curve?

Pear-Shaped Quartic Tractrix Cissoid of Diocles Astroid Folium of Descartes Tricuspoid Cayley's Sextic

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1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Jan 18, 2021

{ x = ± 2 ( 1 t 3 ) 3 2 ( x 2 ) 2 3 = 1 t 3 x y ± 2 ( t 3 ) 3 2 ( y 2 ) 2 3 = t 3 ( x 2 ) 2 3 + ( y 2 ) 2 3 = 1 \begin{cases} x = \pm 2 \left(1-\dfrac t3\right)^\frac 32 & \implies \left(\dfrac x2\right)^\frac 23 = 1 - \dfrac t3 \\ x y \pm 2 \left(\dfrac t3\right)^\frac 32 & \implies \left(\dfrac y2\right)^\frac 23 = \dfrac t3 \end{cases} \implies \left(\frac x2 \right)^\frac 23 + \left(\frac y2 \right)^\frac 23 = 1

A curve of the form ( x a ) 2 3 + ( y b ) 2 3 = 1 \left(\dfrac xa \right)^\frac 23 + \left(\dfrac yb \right)^\frac 23 = 1 , where a a and b b are constants, is an astroid , The black curves in the figure.

Bonus : The astroid of this problem is the locus traced by a point on the circumference of a small circle (red, radius 1 2 \frac 12 ) rolling along the circumference of a larger circle (blue, radius 2 2 ) internally.

(+1). Greetings, Chew-Seong Cheong. Good to see you. The answer to the bonus question is that that parametrization is a unit-speed parametrization. Cheers!

James Wilson - 4 months, 3 weeks ago

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