A Book of Curves

E. H. Lockwood9780521044448, 0521044448, 0521055857, 9780521055857

This book opens up an important field of mathematics at an elementary level, one in which the element of aesthetic pleasure, both in the shapes of the curves and in their mathematical relationships, is dominant. This book describes methods of drawing plane curves, beginning with conic sections (parabola, ellipse and hyperbola), and going on to cycloidal curves, spirals, glissettes, pedal curves, strophoids and so on. In general, ‘envelope methods’ are used. There are twenty-five full-page plates and over ninety smaller diagrams in the text. The book can be used in schools, but will also be a reference for draughtsmen and mechanical engineers. As a text on advanced plane geometry it should appeal to pure mathematicians with an interest in geometry, and to students for whom Euclidean geometry is not a principal study.