Special Plane Curves Archimedes Spiral

Michael Liu and Tim Myers 18 May 2005 Multivariable Calculus Instructor: David Arnold

The Definition and Description of the Curve The curve is defined by the polar equation r = a*, where 0. If we let a=1, we will begin at the origin with = 0 and r = 0. The curve is traced out counterclockwise as the radius of the circle and the angle of rotation both run from 0 to 2pi. The unique property of the Archimedes Spiral is that the radius of the spiral and the rotation angle are linearly proportional, meaning that r, the distance from the origin to any point on the curve, increases at the rate of a*, which is when a = 1. Because a is a constant of proportionality, the only effect a has on the graph is to change the ratio at which the position vector r increases. As a changes, the distance between the windings of the spiral changes, but is always equal to a*, and the distance between any two successive windings is the same.
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Archimedes gives this definition in his work On Spirals, If a straight line drawn in a plane revolves uniformly any number of times about a fixed extremity until it returns to its original position, and if, at the same time as the line revolves, a point moves uniformly along the straight line beginning at the fixed extremity, the point will describe a spiral in the plane.

We must also understand that since the distance r from the origin is increasing, the curvature of the spiral should be increasing as well. Below, we constructed Archimedes spiral using Geometers SketchPad, along with its osculating circle to show the relative magnitude of the curvature on each point of the spiral. Osculating Circle

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Construction of the Osculating Circle Let r = [ acos(), asin() ] be a position vector from the origin to an arbitrary point on the Spiral Curve of Archimedes. Differentiating r with respect to and dividing by its magnitude to obtain a unit tangent vector T(t) in the direction of r: r() = [ a cos(), a sin() ] ( position vector ) dr/d = [ a cos() a sin(), a sin() + a cos()] ( unit tangent vector ) T() = [ -a (-cos() + sin()) / ( | a | (1 + ) ) , a (sin() + cos()) / ( | a |(1+))] Next we calculate a vector that is orthogonal to T() : N() = [-a (sin() + cos()) / ( | a |(1+)), -a (-cos() + sin()) / ( | a | (1 + ) )]

Taking the magnitude of this orthogonal vector and dividing by the magnitude of the unit tangent vector gives us the equation for the curvature of the Spiral of Archimedes:
| N() | / | T() | = (2 + ) / ((1 + )3/2|a| )

k() = ( 2 + ) / (( 1 + )3/2|a| )

( curvature of the curve )

The radius of the osculating circle is difined as p = 1/k and is therefore : p = (( 1 + )3/2|a| ) / ( 2 + ) The osculating circle is therefore defined as the set of points c =[ ( cos() - sin()- sin())a / (2+ ) , a(sin()+cos()+ *cos())/(2+ )]

History and Background of the Spiral of Archimedes This spiral curve was introduced and studied by Archimedes in the third century B.C.. Archimedes used the spiral curve to work on the problem of squaring the circle. The quadrature of the circle was one of the greatest geometrical problems of antiquity. The problem was; given a circle, to construct a square with an area equal to that in the circle using only a compass and a straightedge. Archimedes had shown in his work On Spirals that the area of a circle with a given radius was equal to the area of a right triangle with the two shortest sides equaling the radius and the circumference of the given circle.

We can confirm this by using the osculating circle of Archimedes spiral and constructing a triangle with an equal area and with the two shortest sides equal to the radius and the circumference of the given circle.

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The spiral was used for many useful purposes. The Archimedes screw, a spiral screw turned inside a cylinder, was once commonly used to lift water from canals. The screw is still used to lift water in the Nile delta in Egypt, and is often used to shift grain in mills and powders in factories.

Analyzing Archimedes Curve Who said we had to stop the rotation at 2pi? If we let increase from 2pi to 4pi, the curve would rotate once more around the origin. Since a=1 in our example, the distance r increases from 2pi to 4pi as well. Basically, the spiral and distance r increase outward at the same rate. We can also increase or decrease the distance r from the origin to a*, by letting a equal any real number other than 1. Below, the top three graphs illustrate this point. In the first graph a=1/2, in the second a=1, and in the third a=2. When the value of a is changed from 1 to 2, the distance r doubled as well. When the value of a decreased from 1 to , the distance decreased by half as well. So far, we have tackled positive a values and positive values, but what about negative values? Well, it turns out, when is negative and a remains positive, the direction of the spiral is reversed, as displayed below (center graph, second row). The rotation of the curve, in this case, begins at = 0 and rotates as values increase in the negative direction. When a is negative and remains positive, the position vector r is negated and the curve is traced out with negative values of r as increases (third graph, second row). Finally, when both a and are negative, the curve rotates in the negative direction and the points on the curve are plotted as negative values of r are rotated through this clockwise direction (first graph, second row).

The Development of a System of Parametric Equations We take the polar definition of the curve, r = a*, and convert it to a parametric system of equations using the figure below and some algebraic manipulation. We can use the relationship between polar coordinates and Cartesian coordinates to solve for x and y.

Looking at the above figure, the connection between polar and Cartesian coordinates can be seen, in which the pole corresponds to the origin and the polar axis coincides with the positive x-axis. If the point P has Cartesian coordinates (x,y) and polar coordinates (r, ), then from the figure, we have: cos =x/r so.. x=rcos y=rsin sin =y/r

Since were talking about Archimedes spiral, r = a* , so in terms of Cartesian coordinates x=a*cos y=a*sin

We can also solve for x and y through simple algebraic manipulation we know: r=x + y lets solve for x first: r=a r=a square both sides x+y=a substitute r=x + y x=a-y x=a-rsin y=rsin y=rsin x=a- asin x=a(1- sin)

x =a cos x=| acos | x=acos Finally, solve for y: r=a r=a square both sides x+y=a substitute r=x + y y=a-x y=a-rcost x=rcos x=rcos y=a- acos y=a(1- cos) y=a sin y=|asin| y=asin Thus, the system of parametric equations are x = acos and y = asin, where a is any real number. We can prove that these are the correct equations by using the distance formula. The result looks very much like the polar equation defined at the beginning. r=(x+y) r=(acos+asin) r=(a(cos+sin)) r=(a) r=|a| r=a x=acos and y=asin.

Here is the graph of x = cos and y = sin. As expected, it is just the graph of r = a* , where a=1.

Thats all folks!

Bibliography http://www.xahlee.org/SpecialPlaneCurves_dir/ArchimedeanSpiral_dir/archimedeanSpir al.html Stewart, James. Early Transcendentals: Calculus. Belmont: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning, 2003. http://www.solarnavigator.net/inventors/archimedes.htm http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Squaring_the_circle.html