Example 4. Consider
the parabola
and the point (0,f(0)) =
(0,0) on the curve.
Find collocation circle to go through the three
points
,
, and
,
and explore the situation for h = 1,.1,.01.
Solution 4.
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_66.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_66.gif)
Start with the equation of a circle
.
Then write down three equations that force the collocation circle to
go through the three points
,
, and
.
Enter the equations into Mathematica
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_72.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_72.gif)
Expand the equations and get
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_74.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_74.gif)
Solve the equations for
and extract the formula for the radius of the collocation
circle.
Since it depends on
we will store it as the function
.
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_79.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_79.gif)
Animation.
Draw the circle of curvature for various values
![]()
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_84.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_84.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_85.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_85.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_86.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_86.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_87.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_87.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_88.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_88.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_89.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_89.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_90.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_90.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_91.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_91.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_92.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_92.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_93.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_93.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_94.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_94.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_95.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_95.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_96.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_96.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_97.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_97.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_98.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_98.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_100.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_100.gif)
![[Graphics:../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_102.gif]](../Images/CurvatureMod_gr_102.gif)
We can conjecture that the limit of the collocation polynomial is the circle of curvature.
(c) John H. Mathews 2004