CYCLOID

TOM COPLEY

Cycloid

Galileo Galilei

• 1599• cycloid• area of cycloid = pi

times the area of the circle

Blaise Pascal

• What are the dimensions and properties of the cycloid?

Evangelista Torricelli

• Area under the cycloid is three times the area of the generating circle.

Rene Descartes

• Use tangent lines; it’s easier that way.

Sir Christopher Wren

• 1658• length of the cycloid =

four times the diameter of the circle

Christian Huygens

• 1673• Isochrone• Tautochrone

Johann Bernoulli

Jakob Bernoulli

Newton

Leibniz

Brachistochrone

SOURCES:

• Gardner, Martin, Martin Gardner’s Sixth Book of Mathematical Games, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1971.

• Eric Weisstein’s Encyclopedia of Math, treasure-troves.com, Eric Weisstein, 1999.

• Dr. Carl Lee, University of Kentucky