A Linkage for Describing the Conic Sections by Continuous Motion

Author(s): John James Quinn

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jan., 1904), pp. 12-13
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2970132 .
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12

FP=COSFPPO.PoP=cos 2?x.P P<cosx0P<COSxO(x-xo).

*cosx.(x-x$o)<sinx-sinx0 <cOSxo(x-xo), which is (10).

The outer part of Fig. 5 can also be used to prove that

siux-sinx0 =2cos
0 2 ?
S2 132

A LINKAGE FOR DESCRIBING THE CONIC SECTIONS BY

CONTINUOUS MOTION.

By JOHNJAMESQUINN,Ph. B., Head of the Departmentof Mathematicsand ManualTraining,WarrenHigh

School, Warren,Pa.

The linkage is a material embodiment of the facts and conditions set forth
in the following
THEOREM: If one vertex of a movablypivoted rhomnbus is constrainedto move
of a directinagcircle, while the oppositevertex is fixed in the diam-
in the circunmference
eter (or diameter roduced), the locus of the intersection of the diagonal (produced)
throughthe other two vertices with the radius of the directing circle is a conic.
Let BIDF be the rhombus with the vertex B moving in the circumference
y 4,
of the directing circle whose
_ ic center is F'; F the opposite
vertex flxed within (with-
out) the diameter; and DI
the diagonal produced to
intersect the radius (pro-
duced) in the point K.
Draw KF, and FK'. Then
in the figure to the left,

PK+KF:'=BK+ KF'BF'==constant. . The locus of K is an ellipse.

In the figure to the right,

'EK-FKFK-BK=BPF'constant. .. The locus of K is an hyperbola.

Now suppose that the radius of the directing circle becomes infinite. Then
the circumference becomes the line XY, perpendicular to the diameter (the direc-
trix); BF becornes the line B'F", parallel to the diameter, and the diagonal D'IT
intersects it in K'.

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 13

Hence B'' XFK'. .The locus of ' is a parabola.

COROLLARY 1. The diagonal of the rhomibusis a tangent to the curve in every
position; and the second diagonal is parallel to the normal.
COROLLARY 2. When the diagonal is parallel to the radius it is an asymptote.
COROLLARY 3. If a point in one side of a movablypivoted rhombus, at a giv-
en distancefrom the vertex, is constrained to move in the circumferenceof a directing
circle, and a point in the adjacent side equidistantfrom the same vertexis fixed in the
diameter (or diameterproduced), the locus of the intersectionof thediagonal (produced
if necessary) through the other two vertices with the radius (or radius produced) of
the directing circle is a conic.
COROLLARY 4. A conic is the locus of a point which movesso that the ratio of
its distancesfrom a fixed circle and a fixed point in its diameter (or diameter produc-
ed) is equal to unity.
The linkage is very easily constructed by using thin strips of wood or
metal for each line in the above figure except the diameter of the directing cir-
cle, which should be strong enough to support the rest of the linkage without
bending. The links representing the diagonal and the radius should be slotted,
then there will be an opening at their intersection in which a pencil can be in-
serted to describe the curve.
The points F and X represent the foci, one of which, the point F, should
be made to slide along the diameter. Then a change in the curve due to a change
in the relative position of the foci is made evident.
If the diagonal DI passes through the point X, and an extra link DEI is
attached to the vertex D with the point B in the diameter, but so situated that
DEB=BF, then the vertex I will describe a straight line.
For we have 'D X XI=constant. Consequently, if the vertex D describes
a circle, the point I must describe its inverse.
The extreme simplicity of this linkage reduces the geometry of the conies
to that of the rhombus and the circle.

DEPARTMENTS.
SOLUTIONS OF PROBLEMS.

ALGEBRA.

Problem 185was also solved by A. H. Holmes, Brunswick, Maine.

Ph. D., Assistant Professorof Mathematics,TheUniversityof Chicago.

187. Proposedby L. E. DICKSON,
Express by radicalsthe roots of x7+px5+p2x8?4ip -x+r=O.

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