Posts tagged 'parabola'

F.1 Albert’s Parabola

Given a parabola y = x^2 and a point P = (P_x, P_y) on it, the tangent line T and normal line N at P satisfy y = 2 P_x x - P_x^2 and y = -x/(2 P_x) + P_x^2 + 1/2; requiring N to pass through (M, 0) yields the depressed cubic P_x^3 + (1/2) P_x - M/2 = 0.

F.37 Euler’s Inradius Parabola

For a fixed circumradius R, Euler’s relation d^2 = R^2 - 2 r R defines a downward-opening parabola r(d) = R/2 - d^2/(2R) = (R - d)(R + d)/(2R) with vertex (0, R/2) at the equilateral triangle and roots at the degenerate limits d = +/- R.