of cat-heads and catenaries

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed Sep 15 21:29:48 UTC 2010


On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 5:13 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> The "hanging chain curve" has
> been known as "catenary" in mathematical parlance

It's also used in architecture. The Arch at Saint Louis is a catenary
curve, often defined as a "hanging-chain curve" when dumbed down for
the polloi.

--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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