Reuleaux triangle

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The boundary of a Reuleaux triangle is a constant width curve based on an

equilateral triangle. All points on a side are equidistant from the opposite
vertex.
A Reuleaux triangle [?�lo] is a shape formed from the intersection of three
circular disks, each having its center on the boundary of the other two. Its
boundary is a curve of constant width, the simplest and best known such curve other
than the circle itself.[1] Constant width means that the separation of every two
parallel supporting lines is the same, independent of their orientation. Because
all its diameters are the same, the Reuleaux triangle is one answer to the question
"Other than a circle, what shape can a manhole cover be made so that it cannot fall
down through the hole?"[2]

Reuleaux triangles have also been called spherical triangles, but that term more
properly refers to triangles on the curved surface of a sphere. They are named
after Franz Reuleaux,[3] a 19th-century German engineer who pioneered the study of
machines for translating one type of motion into another, and who used Reuleaux
triangles in his designs.[4] However, these shapes were known before his time, for
instance by the designers of Gothic church windows, by Leonardo da Vinci, who used
it for a map projection, and by Leonhard Euler in his study of constant-width
shapes. Other applications of the Reuleaux triangle include giving the shape to
guitar picks, pencils, and drill bits for drilling square holes, as well as in
graphic design in the shapes of some signs and corporate logos.

Among constant-width shapes with a given width, the Reuleaux triangle has the
minimum area and the sharpest (smallest) possible angle (120�) at its corners. By
several numerical measures it is the farthest from being centrally symmetric. It
provides the largest constant-width shape avoiding the points of an integer
lattice, and is closely related to the shape of the quadrilateral maximizing the
ratio of perimeter to diameter. It can perform a complete rotation within a square
while at all times touching all four sides of the square, and has the smallest
possible area of shapes with this property. However, although it covers most of the
square in this rotation process, it fails to cover a small fraction of the square's
area, near its corners. Because of this property of rotating within a square, the
Reuleaux triangle is also sometimes known as the Reuleaux rotor.[5]

The Reuleaux triangle is the first of a sequence of Reuleaux polygons, whose

boundaries are curves of constant width formed from regular polygons with an odd
number of sides. Some of these curves have been used as the shapes of coins. The
Reuleaux triangle can also be generalized into three dimensions in multiple ways:
the Reuleaux tetrahedron (the intersection of four balls whose centers lie on a
regular tetrahedron) does not have constant width, but can be modified by rounding
its edges to form the Meissner tetrahedron, which does. Alternatively, the surface
of revolution of the Reuleaux triangle also has constant width.

Contents
1 Construction
2 Mathematical properties
2.1 Extremal measures
2.2 Other measures
2.3 Rotation within a square
2.4 As a counterexample
3 Applications
3.1 Reaching into corners
3.2 Rolling cylinders
3.3 Mechanism design
3.4 Architecture
3.5 Mapmaking
3.6 Other objects
3.7 Signs and logos
3.8 In nature
4 Generalizations
4.1 Three-dimensional version
4.2 Reuleaux polygons
4.3 Yanmouti sets
5 Related figures
6 References
7 External links
Construction

To construct a Reuleaux triangle

The Reuleaux triangle may be constructed either directly from three circles, or by
rounding the sides of an equilateral triangle.[6]

The three-circle construction may be performed with a compass alone, not even
needing a straightedge. By the Mohr�Mascheroni theorem the same is true more
generally of any compass-and-straightedge construction,[7] but the construction for
the Reuleaux triangle is particularly simple. The first step is to mark two
arbitrary points of the plane (which will eventually become vertices of the
triangle), and use the compass to draw a circle centered at one of the marked
points, through the other marked point. Next, one draws a second circle, of the
same radius, centered at the other marked point and passing through the first
marked point. Finally, one draws a third circle, again of the same radius, with its
center at one of the two crossing points of the two previous circles, passing
through both marked points.[8] The central region in the resulting arrangement of
three circles will be a Reuleaux triangle.[6]

Alternatively, a Reuleaux triangle may be constructed from an equilateral triangle

T by drawing three arcs of circles, each centered at one vertex of T and connecting
the other two vertices.[9] Or, equivalently, it may be constructed as the
intersection of three disks centered at the vertices of T, with radius equal to the
side length of T.[10]

Mathematical properties

Parallel supporting lines of a Reuleaux triangle

The most basic property of the Reuleaux triangle is that it has constant width,
meaning that for every pair of parallel supporting lines (two lines of the same
slope that both touch the shape without crossing through it) the two lines have the
same Euclidean distance from each other, regardless of the orientation of these
lines.[9] In any pair of parallel supporting lines, one of the two lines will
necessarily touch the triangle at one of its vertices. The other supporting line
may touch the triangle at any point on the opposite arc, and their distance (the
width of the Reuleaux triangle) equals the radius of this arc.[11]

The first mathematician to discover the existence of curves of constant width, and
to observe that the Reuleaux triangle has constant width, may have been Leonhard
Euler.[5] In a paper that he presented in 1771 and published in 1781 entitled De
curvis triangularibus, Euler studied curvilinear triangles as well as the curves of
constant width, which he called orbiforms.[12][13]

Extremal measures
By many different measures, the Reuleaux triangle is one of the most extreme curves
of constant width.
By the Blaschke�Lebesgue theorem, the Reuleaux triangle has the smallest possible
area of any curve of given constant width. This area is

{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{2}}(\pi -{\sqrt {3}})s^{2}\approx 0.70477s^{2},}{\frac

{1}{2}}(\pi -{\sqrt {3}})s^{2}\approx 0.70477s^{2},
where s is the constant width. One method for deriving this area formula is to
partition the Reuleaux triangle into an inner equilateral triangle and three
curvilinear regions between this inner triangle and the arcs forming the Reuleaux
triangle, and then add the areas of these four sets. At the other extreme, the
curve of constant width that has the maximum possible area is a circular disk,
which has area {\displaystyle \pi s^{2}/4\approx 0.78540s^{2}}\pi s^{2}/4\approx
0.78540s^{2}.[14]

The angles made by each pair of arcs at the corners of a Reuleaux triangle are all
equal to 120�. This is the sharpest possible angle at any vertex of any curve of
constant width.[9] Additionally, among the curves of constant width, the Reuleaux
triangle is the one with both the largest and the smallest inscribed equilateral
triangles.[15] The largest equilateral triangle inscribed in a Reuleaux triangle is
the one connecting its three corners, and the smallest one is the one connecting
the three midpoints of its sides. The subset of the Reuleaux triangle consisting of
points belonging to three or more diameters is the interior of the larger of these
two triangles; it has a larger area than the set of three-diameter points of any
other curve of constant width.[16]

Centrally symmetric shapes inside and outside a Reuleaux triangle, used to measure
its asymmetry
Although the Reuleaux triangle has sixfold dihedral symmetry, the same as an
equilateral triangle, it does not have central symmetry. The Reuleaux triangle is
the least symmetric curve of constant width according to two different measures of
central asymmetry, the Kovner�Besicovitch measure (ratio of area to the largest
centrally symmetric shape enclosed by the curve) and the Estermann measure (ratio
of area to the smallest centrally symmetric shape enclosing the curve). For the
Reuleaux triangle, the two centrally symmetric shapes that determine the measures
of asymmetry are both hexagonal, although the inner one has curved sides.[17] The
Reuleaux triangle has diameters that split its area more unevenly than any other
curve of constant width. That is, the maximum ratio of areas on either side of a
diameter, another measure of asymmetry, is bigger for the Reuleaux triangle than
for other curves of constant width.[18]

Among all shapes of constant width that avoid all points of an integer lattice, the
one with the largest width is a Reuleaux triangle. It has one of its axes of
symmetry parallel to the coordinate axes on a half-integer line. Its width,
approximately 1.545, is the root of a degree-6 polynomial with integer
coefficients.[17][19][20]

Just as it is possible for a circle to be surrounded by six congruent circles that

touch it, it is also possible to arrange seven congruent Reuleaux triangles so that
they all make contact with a central Reuleaux triangle of the same size. This is
the maximum number possible for any curve of constant width.[21]

An equidiagonal kite that maximizes the ratio of perimeter to diameter, inscribed

in a Reuleaux triangle
Among all quadrilaterals, the shape that has the greatest ratio of its perimeter to
its diameter is an equidiagonal kite that can be inscribed into a Reuleaux
triangle.[22]
Other measures
By Barbier's theorem all curves of the same constant width including the Reuleaux
triangle have equal perimeters. In particular this perimeter equals the perimeter
of the circle with the same width, which is {\displaystyle \pi s}\pi s.[23][24][9]

The radii of the largest inscribed circle of a Reuleaux triangle with width s, and
of the circumscribed circle of the same triangle, are

{\displaystyle \displaystyle \left(1-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)s\approx

0.42265s\quad {\text{and}}\quad \displaystyle {\frac {s}{\sqrt {3}}}\approx
0.57735s}{\displaystyle \displaystyle \left(1-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)s\approx
0.42265s\quad {\text{and}}\quad \displaystyle {\frac {s}{\sqrt {3}}}\approx
0.57735s}
respectively; the sum of these radii equals the width of the Reuleaux triangle.
More generally, for every curve of constant width, the largest inscribed circle and
the smallest circumscribed circle are concentric, and their radii sum to the
constant width of the curve.[25]

Question, Web Fundamentals.svg Unsolved problem in mathematics:

How densely can Reuleaux triangles be packed in the plane?
(more unsolved problems in mathematics)
The optimal packing density of the Reuleaux triangle in the plane remains unproven,
but is conjectured to be

{\displaystyle {\frac {2(\pi -{\sqrt {3}})}{{\sqrt {15}}+{\sqrt {7}}-{\sqrt

{12}}}}\approx 0.922888,}{\frac {2(\pi -{\sqrt {3}})}{{\sqrt {15}}+{\sqrt {7}}-
{\sqrt {12}}}}\approx 0.922888,
which is the density of one possible double lattice packing for these shapes. The
best proven upper bound on the packing density is approximately 0.947275.[26] It
has also been conjectured, but not proven, that the Reuleaux triangles have the
highest packing density of any curve of constant width.[27]

Rotation within a square

Rotation of a Reuleaux triangle within a square, showing also the curve traced by
the center of the triangle
Any curve of constant width can form a rotor within a square, a shape that can
perform a complete rotation while staying within the square and at all times
touching all four sides of the square. However, the Reuleaux triangle is the rotor
with the minimum possible area.[9] As it rotates, its axis does not stay fixed at a
single point, but instead follows a curve formed by the pieces of four ellipses.
[28] Because of its 120� angles, the rotating Reuleaux triangle cannot reach some
points near the sharper angles at the square's vertices, but rather covers a shape
with slightly rounded corners, also formed by elliptical arcs.[9]

Reuleaux triangle in a square, with ellipse governing the path of motion of the
triangle center
One of the four ellipses followed by the center of a rotating Reuleaux triangle in
a square
Reuleaux triangle in a square, with ellipse bounding the region swept by the
triangle
Ellipse separating one of the corners (lower left) of a square from the region
swept by a rotating Reuleaux triangle
At any point during this rotation, two of the corners of the Reuleaux triangle
touch two adjacent sides of the square, while the third corner of the triangle
traces out a curve near the opposite vertex of the square. The shape traced out by
the rotating Reuleaux triangle covers approximately 98.77% of the area of the
square.[29]
As a counterexample
Reuleaux's original motivation for studying the Reuleaux triangle was as a
counterexample, showing that three single-point contacts may not be enough to fix a
planar object into a single position.[30]

The existence of Reuleaux polygons shows that diameter measurements alone cannot
verify that an object has a circular cross-section.[31] Overlooking this fact may
have played a role in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, as the roundness of
sections of the rocket in that launch was tested only by measuring different
diameters, and off-round shapes may cause unusually high stresses that could have
been one of the factors causing the disaster.[9]

In connection with the inscribed square problem, Eggleston (1958) observed that the
Reuleaux triangle provides an example of a constant-width shape in which no regular
polygon with more than four sides can be inscribed, except the regular hexagon, and
he described a small modification to this shape that preserves its constant width
but also prevents regular hexagons from being inscribed in it. He generalized this
result to three dimensions using a cylinder with the same shape as its cross
section.[32]

Applications
Reaching into corners
Several types of machinery take the shape of the Reuleaux triangle, based on its
property of being able to rotate within a square.

The Watts Brothers Tool Works square drill bit has the shape of a Reuleaux
triangle, modified with concavities to form cutting surfaces. When mounted in a
special chuck which allows for the bit not having a fixed centre of rotation, it
can drill a hole that is nearly square.[33] Although patented by Henry Watts in
1914, similar drills invented by others were used earlier.[9] Other Reuleaux
polygons are used to drill pentagonal, hexagonal, and octagonal holes.[9][33]

Panasonic's RULO robotic vacuum cleaner has its shape based on the Reuleaux
triangle in order to ease cleaning up dust in the corners of rooms.[34][35]

Rolling cylinders

Comparison of a cylindrical and Reuleaux triangle roller

Another class of applications of the Reuleaux triangle involves cylindrical objects
with a Reuleaux triangle cross section. Several pencils are manufactured in this
shape, rather than the more traditional round or hexagonal barrels.[36] They are
usually promoted as being more comfortable or encouraging proper grip, as well as
being less likely to roll off tables (since the center of gravity moves up and down
more than a rolling hexagon).

A Reuleaux triangle (along with all other curves of constant width) can roll but
makes a poor wheel because it does not roll about a fixed center of rotation. An
object on top of rollers that have Reuleaux triangle cross-sections would roll
smoothly and flatly, but an axle attached to Reuleaux triangle wheels would bounce
up and down three times per revolution.[9][37] This concept was used in a science
fiction short story by Poul Anderson titled "Three-Cornered Wheel".[11][38] A
bicycle with floating axles and a frame supported by the rim of its Reuleaux
triangle shaped wheel was built and demonstrated in 2009 by Chinese inventor Guan
Baihua, who was inspired by pencils with the same shape.[39]

Mechanism design

Reuleaux triangle based film advance mechanism in the Soviet Luch-28 mm film
projector
Another class of applications of the Reuleaux triangle involves using it as a part
of a mechanical linkage that can convert rotation around a fixed axis into
reciprocating motion.[10] These mechanisms were studied by Franz Reuleaux. With the
assistance of the Gustav Voigt company, Reuleaux built approximately 800 models of
mechanisms, several of which involved the Reuleaux triangle.[40] Reuleaux used
these models in his pioneering scientific investigations of their motion.[41]
Although most of the Reuleaux�Voigt models have been lost, 219 of them have been
collected at Cornell University, including nine based on the Reuleaux triangle.[40]
[42] However, the use of Reuleaux triangles in mechanism design predates the work
of Reuleaux; for instance, some steam engines from as early as 1830 had a cam in
the shape of a Reuleaux triangle.[43][44]

One application of this principle arises in a film projector. In this application,

it is necessary to advance the film in a jerky, stepwise motion, in which each
frame of film stops for a fraction of a second in front of the projector lens, and
then much more quickly the film is moved to the next frame. This can be done using
a mechanism in which the rotation of a Reuleaux triangle within a square is used to
create a motion pattern for an actuator that pulls the film quickly to each new
frame and then pauses the film's motion while the frame is projected.[45]

The rotor of the Wankel engine is shaped as a curvilinear triangle that is often
cited as an example of a Reuleaux triangle.[9][44] However, its curved sides are
somewhat flatter than those of a Reuleaux triangle and so it does not have constant
width.[46]

Architecture

Reuleaux triangle shaped window of the Church of Our Lady, Bruges in Belgium

The K�lntriangle building in Cologne, Germany, has a Reuleaux triangle cross-

section
In Gothic architecture, beginning in the late 13th century or early 14th century,
[47] the Reuleaux triangle became one of several curvilinear forms frequently used
for windows, window tracery, and other architectural decorations.[3] For instance,
in English Gothic architecture, this shape was associated with the decorated
period, both in its geometric style of 1250�1290 and continuing into its
curvilinear style of 1290�1350.[47] In this context, the shape is more frequently
called a spherical triangle,[47][48][49] but the more usual mathematical meaning of
a spherical triangle is a triangle on the surface of a sphere (a shape also
commonly used in architecture as a pendentive). In its use in Gothic church
architecture, the three-cornered shape of the Reuleaux triangle may be seen both as
a symbol of the Trinity,[50] and as "an act of opposition to the form of the
circle".[51]

The Reuleaux triangle has also been used in other styles of architecture. For
instance, Leonardo da Vinci sketched this shape as the plan for a fortification.
[42] A modern high-rise building, the K�lntriangle in Cologne, Germany, was built
with a Reuleaux triangle cross-section. Together with the circular shape of its
core, this gives varied depths to the rooms of the building.[52]

Mapmaking
Main article: octant projection
Another early application of the Reuleaux triangle, Leonardo da Vinci's world map,
by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1514 (or possibly by one of his followers at his
direction), was a world map in which the spherical surface of the earth was divided
into eight octants, each flattened into the shape of a Reuleaux triangle.[53][54]
[55]
Leonardo da Vinci's world map in eight Reuleaux-triangle quadrants
Similar maps also based on the Reuleaux triangle were published by Oronce Fin� in
1551 and by John Dee in 1580.[55]

Other objects

Reuleaux triangle shaped guitar picks

Many guitar picks employ the Reuleaux triangle, as its shape combines a sharp point
to provide strong articulation, with a wide tip to produce a warm timbre. Because
all three points of the shape are usable, it is easier to orient and wears less
quickly compared to a pick with a single tip.[56]

The Submillimeter Array, with seven of its eight antennae arranged on an

approximate Reuleaux triangle
Following a suggestion of Keto (1997),[57] the antennae of the Submillimeter Array,
a radio-wave astronomical observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, are arranged on four
nested Reuleaux triangles.[58][59] Placing the antennae on a curve of constant
width causes the observatory to have the same spatial resolution in all directions,
and provides a circular observation beam. As the most asymmetric curve of constant
width, the Reuleaux triangle leads to the most uniform coverage of the plane for
the Fourier transform of the signal from the array.[57][59] The antennae may be
moved from one Reuleaux triangle to another for different observations, according
to the desired angular resolution of each observation.[58][59] The precise
placement of the antennae on these Reuleaux triangles was optimized using a neural
network. In some places the constructed observatory departs from the preferred
Reuleaux triangle shape because that shape was not possible within the given site.
[59]

Signs and logos

The shield shapes used for many signs and corporate logos feature rounded
triangles, some of which are more specifically Reuleaux triangles.

The corporate logo of Petrofina (Fina), a Belgian oil company with major operations
in Europe, North America and Africa, used a Reuleaux triangle with the Fina name
from 1950 until Petrofina's merger with Total S.A. in 2000.[60][61] Another
corporate logo framed in the Reuleaux triangle, the south-pointing compass of
Bavaria Brewery, was part of a makeover by design company Total Identity that won
the SAN 2010 Advertiser of the Year award.[62] The Reuleaux triangle is also used
in the logo of Colorado School of Mines.[63]

In the United States, the National Trails System and United States Bicycle Route
System both mark routes with Reuleaux triangles on signage.[64]

In nature

The Reuleaux triangle as the central bubble in a mathematical model of a four-

bubble planar soap bubble cluster
According to Plateau's laws, the circular arcs in two-dimensional soap bubble
clusters meet at 120� angles, the same angle found at the corners of a Reuleaux
triangle. Based on this fact, it is possible to construct clusters in which some of
the bubbles take the form of a Reuleaux triangle.[65]

The shape was first isolated in crystal form in 2014 as Reuleaux triangle disks.
[66] Basic bismuth nitrate disks with the Reuleaux triangle shape were formed from
the hydrolysis and precipitation of bismuth nitrate in an ethanol�water system in
the presence of 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine.

Generalizations
Triangular curves of constant width with smooth rather than sharp corners may be
obtained as the locus of points at a fixed distance from the Reuleaux triangle.[67]
Other generalizations of the Reuleaux triangle include surfaces in three
dimensions, curves of constant width with more than three sides, and the Yanmouti
sets which provide extreme examples of an inequality between width, diameter, and
inradius.

Three-dimensional version

Four balls intersect to form a Reuleaux tetrahedron.

The intersection of four balls of radius s centered at the vertices of a regular
tetrahedron with side length s is called the Reuleaux tetrahedron, but its surface
is not a surface of constant width.[68] It can, however, be made into a surface of
constant width, called Meissner's tetrahedron, by replacing three of its edge arcs
by curved surfaces, the surfaces of rotation of a circular arc. Alternatively, the
surface of revolution of a Reuleaux triangle through one of its symmetry axes forms
a surface of constant width, with minimum volume among all known surfaces of
revolution of given constant width.[69]

Reuleaux polygons

Reuleaux polygons

United Arab Emirates 50 fils coin, a Reuleaux heptagon in form.

The Reuleaux triangle can be generalized to regular polygons with an odd number of
sides, yielding a Reuleaux polygon. These are the only curves of constant width
whose boundaries are formed by finitely many circular arcs of equal length.[70]

The constant width of these shapes allows their use as coins that can be used in
coin-operated machines. For instance, the United Kingdom has made 20-pence and 50-
pence coins in the shape of a Reuleaux heptagon.[9] The Canadian Loonie dollar coin
uses another Reuleaux polygon with 11 sides.[71]

Similar methods can be used to enclose an arbitrary simple polygon within a curve
of constant width, whose width equals the diameter of the given polygon. The
resulting shape consists of circular arcs (at most as many as sides of the
polygon), can be constructed algorithmically in linear time, and can be drawn with
compass and straightedge.[72] Although the regular-polygon based Reuleaux polygons
all have an odd number of circular-arc sides, it is possible to construct constant-
width shapes based on irregular polygons that have an even number of sides.[73]

Yanmouti sets
The Yanmouti sets are defined as the convex hulls of an equilateral triangle
together with three circular arcs, centered at the triangle vertices and spanning
the same angle as the triangle, with equal radii that are at most equal to the side
length of the triangle. Thus, when the radius is small enough, these sets
degenerate to the equilateral triangle itself, but when the radius is as large as
possible they equal the corresponding Reuleaux triangle. Every shape with width w,
diameter d, and inradius r (the radius of the largest possible circle contained in
the shape) obeys the inequality

{\displaystyle w-r\leq {\frac {d}{\sqrt {3}}},}w-r\leq {\frac {d}{\sqrt {3}}},

and this inequality becomes an equality for the Yanmouti sets, showing that it
cannot be improved.[74]

Related figures

Triquetra interlaced to form a trefoil knot

In the classical presentation of a three-set Venn diagram as three overlapping
circles, the central region (representing elements belonging to all three sets)
takes the shape of a Reuleaux triangle.[3] The same three circles form one of the
standard drawings of the Borromean rings, three mutually linked rings that cannot,
however, be realized as geometric circles.[75] Parts of these same circles are used
to form the triquetra, a figure of three overlapping semicircles (each two of which
form a vesica piscis symbol) that again has a Reuleaux triangle at its center;[76]
just as the three circles of the Venn diagram may be interlaced to form the
Borromean rings, the three circular arcs of the triquetra may be interlaced to form
a trefoil knot.[77]

Relatives of the Reuleaux triangle arise in the problem of finding the minimum
perimeter shape that encloses a fixed amount of area and includes three specified
points in the plane. For a wide range of choices of the area parameter, the optimal
solution to this problem will be a curved triangle whose three sides are circular
arcs with equal radii. In particular, when the three points are equidistant from
each other and the area is that of the Reuleaux triangle, the Reuleaux triangle is
the optimal enclosure.[78]

Circular triangles are triangles with circular-arc edges, including the Reuleaux
triangle as well as other shapes. The deltoid curve is another type of curvilinear
triangle, but one in which the curves replacing each side of an equilateral
triangle are concave rather than convex. It is not composed of circular arcs, but
may be formed by rolling one circle within another of three times the radius.[79]
Other planar shapes with three curved sides include the arbelos, which is formed
from three semicircles with collinear endpoints,[80] and the B�zier triangle.[81]

The Reuleaux triangle may also be interpreted as the conformal image of a spherical
triangle with 120� angles.[65] This spherical triangle is one of the Schwarz
triangles (with parameters 3/2, 3/2, 3/2), triangles bounded by great-circle arcs
on the surface of a sphere that can tile the sphere by reflection.[82]

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