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involute
EntityQ680712· pop 34· linked from 109 articles

Also known as evolvent

thumb|Two involutes (red) of a parabola

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

15 sections
Contents
  • Involute of a parameterized curve
  • Properties of involutes
  • Cusps
  • cusp of order 3/2
  • cusp of order 5/2
  • Examples
  • Involutes of a circle
  • Involutes of a semicubic parabola
  • Involutes of a catenary
  • Involutes of a cycloid
  • Involute and evolute
  • Application
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

thumb|Two involutes (red) of a parabola

In mathematics, an involute (also known as an evolvent) is a particular type of curve that is dependent on another shape or curve. An involute of a curve is the locus of a point on a piece of taut string as the string is either unwrapped from or wrapped around the curve.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “involute” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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