The Beauty of Geometrical Curves

The path traced out by a given point on the rim of a circle as you roll it along a straight line is a beautiful curve called a cycloid, whose appeal to mathematicians has had it dubbed “the Helen of Geometry”. This curve is known in geometry as a roulette, which is a curve you get by rolling one curve along another, and there are many more with an amazing range of applications, from clockwork toys to nuclear reactors.

This lecture will provide a guided tour of the beauty of geometrical curves.

A lecture by Sarah Hart

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-an...

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/

Website:  https://gresham.ac.uk
Twitter:  Twitter: greshamcollege
Facebook: Facebook: greshamcollege
Instagram: Instagram: greshamcollege

• #education
• #gresham
• #gresham_college
• #education
• #lecture
• #public
• #london
• #debate
• #academia
• #knowledge
• #maths
• #mathematics
• #geometry
• #sarah_hart
• #curves
• #geometrical
• #cycloid
• #galileo
• #mersenne
• #gilles_de_roberval
• #pascal
• #pendulum
• #tautochrone
• #involute
• #brachistochrone
• #bernouilli
• #roberval
• #epicycloids
• #hypocycloids
• #cardioid
• #nephroid
• #nuclear_reactor