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{%type%} Definitions

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Short "hint"

A curve in which the part of the tangent between the point of tangency and a given straight line is constant and which is an involute of a catenary.

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Usage examples (5)
  • I found by experiment that it is neither, but an approximation to the tractrix (a modification of the catenary), if anything definite; as indeed one, on thinking over...
  • This had led, through the work of Leonardo (on the catenary-tractrix matter), into the work of Kepler, which, in turn, led into Leibniz's uniquely original discovery of...
  • De Docta Ignorantia; Leonardo da Vinci (e.g., the use of the relatively least-action physical curve, the catenary-tractrix, as a principle of construction
  • The curve is a tractrix hybrid.
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