Fitting a Circle to a Cycloid and Computing the Time

Taken
The parametric equation of a cycloid is given by (in the coordinates that we
used to explain the Brachistochrone problem):

y = a (ϕ − sin ϕ) (1)
z = a (1 − cos ϕ) (2)

Let us assume that a is negative and that −π <= ϕ <= 0 (so as to make it
possible for a test particle to slide down the curve from ϕ = 0).
This would represent the curve as shown in Fig. 1:

Figure 1: Figure of a cycloid with the parameter ϕ varying from −π to 0.

From the discussion on the Brachistochrone problem, we know that the first
maximum (or minimum) of z occurs at y = ±πa.
We want to fit a circle to the curve shown in Fig. 1. We will center the circle
(with radius A) at a point whose y coordinate is πa and z coordinate is C which
is to be determined. The tentative equation for the circle centered at (πa, C) is
given by

y = A cos θ − πa (3)
z = A sin θ + C (4)

Note that the (angular) parameter for the circle is taken to be θ (instead of ϕ
for the cycloid) to indicate that these are two different curves mathematically.
We thus have 4 unknowns in the equations: A, C and θ1 that represents the
point (0, 0) and θ2 representing point (πa, −2a).
We first need to have the cycloid and the circle intersect at (0, 0). This mathe-
matically means that:

A cos θ1 − πa = a(0 − sin 0) = 0 (5)

A sin θ1 + C = a(1 − cos 0) = 0 (6)

Exercise 1: Show that eqns. (5) and (6) give us:

πa
cos θ1 = (7)
A
C
sin θ1 = − (8)
A
In addition, show that eqns. (7) and (8) imply that:

π 2 a2 + C 2 = A2 (9)

The next matching needs to happen at ϕ = −π for which, eqns. (1), (2), (3)
and (4) give us:

A cos θ2 − πa = a[−π − sin(−π)] = −πa (10)

A sin θ2 + C = a[1 − cos(−π)] = 2a (11)

Exercise 2: Show that eqns. (10) and (11) give us:

cos θ2 = 0 (12)
2a − C
sin θ2 = (13)
A
In addition, show that eqn. (12) implies that
π
θ2 = (14)
2
and that eqns. (12) and (13) together give us:

4a2 − 4aC + C 2 = A2 (15)

Exercise 3: Solve eqns. (9) and (15) and show that:

  π 2 
C = 1− a (16)
2
  π 2 
A= 1+ a (17)
2

Exercise 4: Substitute eqns. (16) and (17) into eqn. (8) and show that:
 2 
π −4
θ1 = sin−1 = 0.4369733169128778 (18)
π2 + 4

With these, on plotting the cycloid and the circle together, we obtain Fig. 2:

Figure 2: Figure of a cycloid with the parameter ϕ varying from −π to 0 and

π2 − 4 π
the circle with θ varying from 2 to
π +4 2
Hence the equation of the circle is given by the equations:
  π 2 
y = 1+ a cos θ − πa (19)
2
  π 2    π 2 
z = 1+ a sin θ + 1 − a (20)
2 2

Let us now calculate the time taken by a test particle to come down the red curve
ds
of Fig. 2. We first calculate (as we did in the case of the Brachistochrone
dθ
problem).

Exercise 5: Show that the time taken for traversing down the arc length
is:
s (θ2 − θ1 ) A
t= = √ (21)
v 4ga

1. Show that
   2    π 2  r a
1 π −1 π −4
t= − sin 1+ (22)
2 2 π2 + 4 2 g

2. Show that the quantity within the curly braces works out to be
8.996931848730801
a
r
3. Compare with the constant multiplying for the cycloid and
g
show that the increase in time is 186%.
4. For a = 1.3, what are the times taken for the test object to move
down the cycloid and the circle respectively?