noun
definition
A curve comprising the centres of curvature of another curve.
Examples of evolutes in a Sentence
The determination of the true relation between the length of a pendulum and the time of its oscillation; the invention of the theory of evolutes; the discovery, hence ensuing, that the cycloid is its own evolute, and is strictly isochronous; the ingenious although practically inoperative idea of correcting the "circular error" of the pendulum by applying cycloidal cheeks to clocks - were all contained in this remarkable treatise.
His enquiries into evolutes enabled him to prove that the evolute of a cycloid was an equal cycloid, and by utilizing this property he constructed the isochronal pendulum generally known as the cycloidal pendulum.
Again, the normal, qua line at right angles to the tangent, is connected with the circular points, and these accordingly present themselves in the before-mentioned theories of evolutes and parallel curves.
The fifth book contains properties of normals and their envelopes, thus embracing the germs of the theory of evolutes, and also maxima and minima problems, such as to draw the longest and shortest lines from a given point to a conic; the sixth book is concerned with the similarity of conics; the seventh with complementary chords and conjugate diameters; the eighth book, according to the restoration of Edmund Halley, continues the subject of the preceding book.