Cycloid plates of golden age violins are closely modeled by curtate cycloid curves. Later work indicates that curtate cycloids do not serve as general models for these curves, which vary considerably. Cycloid A cycloid is the curve traced by a point on the rim of a circular wheel as the wheel rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another curve. The cycloid, with the cusps pointing upward, is the curve of fastest descent under constant gravity, and is
Power of a point power of a point with respect to any algebraic curve in a similar way. For a point P outside the circle, the power "h" equals "R", the square of the radius "R" of a new circle centered on P that intersects the given circle at right angles, i.e., orthogonally (Figure 2). If the two circles meet at right angles at a point T, then radii drawn to T from P and from O, the center of the given circle, likewise meet at right angles (blue line segments in Figure 2). Therefore, the radius line segment of each circle is tangent