[A83] Re: The shape of a cord


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[A83] Re: The shape of a cord




Would you mind telling us what x1, y1, x2, and y2 are?

-----Original Message-----
From: assembly-83-bounce@lists.ticalc.org
[mailto:assembly-83-bounce@lists.ticalc.org] On Behalf Of Patai Gergely
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 4:53 PM
To: assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org
Subject: [A83] Re: The shape of a cord


> Not quite sure I understand, do you want to know how much 
cord it will
> take to make a parabola-shaped cord go 5 feet from (x1, 
y1) to (x2, y2)
> and still touch (x3, y3)?

Let's go through it again. We are in two dimensions.
I have a cord of known length and given the coordinates of
its endpoints, I'd like to find approximate its shape
with a parabola. To set up the equation for this
parabola, I need a third point, whose x coordinate
is also fixed to the average of the other two x
values. Some ASCII art:

            Q(x2,y2)
  P(x1,y1) /
   \      /
    \    / <--- the length of this parabola segment
     \__/       is l
       R(x3,y3)

We know x1, y1, x2, y2, l, and we fix x3 to be
(x1+x2)/2. Question: how much is y3? Normally there
should be two solutions, if l is greater than
the distance of P and Q, but let that not disturb
us for now, we are clever enough to choose the
right one if we have both. :)

PG







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