Conon of Samos (about 280BC - about 220 BC)
invented a spiral,the polar equation of which is written as r = a q.
This curve was used by
Archimedes (287BC - 212 BC)
for squaring the circle.
Nowadays this curve is called Archimedean Spiral.
In his book "On Spiral" Archimedes proves that if r is the radius vector to the point P, |
To create this drawing :
Load sqr_circle.lsp (load "sqr_circle")
Then from command line, type spiral_a
This will create a Archimedean spiral with incremental angle of 0.001 radian.
Explode the polyline into many small segements, and
extend these small line segements to draw tangent lines
at point P and T.
Open spiral_subtangent.dwg and find out the lenghts of OR,OU, and arc length using LIST command.
From the argument above, it is now possible to get a line segment with length p.
These are the steps to follow:
(1) Draw an Archimedean spiral,starting from point O (at x = y = 0).
Note:for convenience, choose constant "a" such that x-value will be 1.0 when x = 2p
(2) After one turn, the curve cuts x-axsi at point Q.(OQ = 1)
(3) At point Q, draw a tangent line.
(4) This tangent line intersects y-axis at point P.
Length of OP is p
This is equal to the perimeter of a circle with radius OQ.
Drawing a tangent line needs some explanation.
Theorectically speaking, tangent line is defined as a limit of angle q approaching zero.
In computer programming, this is accomplished by zooming to the point (1,0),
and making the angle q smaller and smaller.
************** tangnet_line.dwg ***************
************** Archimedes_circle_squaring_desc.dwg ***************
You can see the process in animation.
To create this drawing and animation:
Load sqr_circle.lsp (load "sqr_circle")
Then from command line, type sqr_circle
To create jpg files for animation,type make_anim_jpg
*** Archimedes_circle_squaring_result.dwg ****
All questions/suggestions should be sent to Takaya Iwamoto
Last Updated Nov 22, 2006
Copyright 2006 Takaya Iwamoto All rights reserved.
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