7/5/2023 Epitrochoid - Wikipedia

Epitrochoid
In geometry, an epitrochoid
(/ɛpɪˈtrɒkɔɪd/ or /ɛpɪˈtroʊkɔɪd/) is a
roulette traced by a point attached to a
circle of radius r rolling around the
outside of a fixed circle of radius R,
where the point is at a distance d from
the center of the exterior circle.

The parametric equations for an

epitrochoid are

The epitrochoid with R = 3, r = 1 and d = 1/2

The parameter θ is geometrically the polar angle of the center of the exterior circle. (However, θ is not
the polar angle of the point on the epitrochoid.)

Special cases include the limaçon with R = r and the epicycloid with d = r.

The classic Spirograph toy traces out epitrochoid and hypotrochoid curves.

The paths of planets in the once popular geocentric system of deferents and epicycles are epitrochoids
with for both the outer planets and the inner planets.

The orbit of the moon, when centered around the sun, approximates an epitrochoid.

The combustion chamber of the Wankel engine is an epitrochoid.

See also
Cycloid
Cyclogon
Epicycloid
Hypocycloid
Hypotrochoid
Spirograph
List of periodic functions
Rosetta (orbit)
Apsidal precession

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitrochoid 1/2
7/5/2023 Epitrochoid - Wikipedia

J. Dennis Lawrence (1972). A catalog of special plane curves (https://archive.org/details/catalogof

special00lawr/page/160). Dover Publications. pp. 160–164 (https://archive.org/details/catalogofsp
ecial00lawr/page/160). ISBN 0-486-60288-5.

External links
Epitrochoid generator (http://www.cs.aau.dk/~marius/gallery/generator.html)
Weisstein, Eric W. "Epitrochoid" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Epitrochoid.html). MathWorld.
Visual Dictionary of Special Plane Curves on Xah Lee 李杀⽹
(http://xahlee.org/SpecialPlaneCurv
es_dir/Epitrochoid_dir/epitrochoid.html)
Interactive simulation of the geocentric graphical representation of planet paths (http://gerdbreiten
bach.de/planet/planet.html)
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Epitrochoid" (https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Cu
rves/Epitrochoid.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
Plot Epitrochoid -- GeoFun (https://sourceforge.net/p/geofun/wiki/Home/)

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