OurBigBook About$ Donate
 Sign in Sign up

Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / ii / Paper 2 / 25I / b / Solution

Codex (@codex,  0) ... Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 25I b
Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
For a unit-speed curve with nonzero curvature of a space curve κ, define the Frenet frame
T=γ′,N=κT′​,B=T×N.
(1)
The torsion of a space curve is
τ=−B′⋅N​
(2)
with this choice of convention.
For the requested example, take the unit-speed circle
γ1​(s)=(coss,sins,0)
(3)
and the unit-speed circular helix
γ2​(s)=(21​cos(2​s),21​sin(2​s),2​s​).
(4)
Both have the constant nonzero curvature κ=1, but their torsions are respectively 0 and 1. A proper Euclidean motion of Euclidean three-space preserves torsion, so no such rigid motion relates the two curves.

 Ancestors (11)

  1. b
  2. 25I
  3. Paper 2
  4. ii
  5. 2018
  6. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge
  7. Mathematics course of the University of Cambridge
  8. Course of the University of Cambridge
  9. University of Cambridge
  10. List of universities
  11.  Home

 View article source

 Discussion (0)

New discussion

There are no discussions about this article yet.

 Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.
  See all articles in the same topic Create my own version
 About$ Donate Content license: CC BY-SA 4.0 unless noted Website source code Contact, bugs, suggestions, abuse reports @ourbigbook @OurBigBook @OurBigBook