Serpentine curve
A serpentine curve is a curve whose equation is of the form
Equivalently, it has a parametric representation
- ,
or functional representation
The curve has an inflection point at the origin. It has local extrema at , with a maximum value of and a minimum value of .
History[]
Serpentine curves were studied by L'Hôpital and Huygens, and named and classified by Newton.
Visual appearance[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Serpentine_curve.png/400px-Serpentine_curve.png)
The serpentine curve for a = b = 1.
External links[]
Categories:
- Geometry stubs
- Plane curves