Archimedean Spiral built by parametric equations

An Archimedean Spiral is also known as an arithmetic spiral since there is a constant separation distance on successive turnings of the spiral. It is the trace of a point moving away from a starting point with a constant speed along a line which rotates with constant angular velocity. In the formulas used here, b t cos(t + a), b t sin(t + a), b controls the “tightness” of the spiral, a changes its orientation, while t is the parameter. The slider N controls how many turnings there are.

 

Bill Lombard

 
Resource Type
Activity
Tags
archimedean  exploration  parametric-curves  spiral 
Target Group (Age)
15 – 19+
Language
English (United States)
 
 
 
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