St.

Joseph
Institution
International

Pham Minh
Tue

Table of conten

[MODELING
CYCLOID]

An investigation about the properties

of a cycloid

Table of content.......................................................................................................... 1
Rationale.................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction................................................................................................................ 3
Cartesian equation for cycloid.................................................................................... 4
Horizontal movement of the whole circle................................................................4
Rotational movement of point A relative to point O................................................6
The Cartesian equation for cycloid..........................................................................6
Reflection on the process of deriving the equation.................................................7
Area under a cycloid arc.......................................................................................... 8
The Brachistochrone curve and the Tautochrone curve..............................................9
Transforming the current Cartesian equation of the cycloid....................................9
Initial conditions and definitions............................................................................10
Showing that the cycloid has the Tautochrone property........................................11
Application of the cycloid......................................................................................... 15
Using the Tautochronous property to improve mechanical clocks.........................15
Testing the tautochronous property using computer simulation...........................16
Bibliography............................................................................................................. 18

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Rationale
As a child, looking at people riding bicycles, I often wondered just in what way particular
points of the wheel move. Certainly, by that time, I had no idea how I could ever answer
this question with my limited mathematical knowledge. A few years later, after learning
about the basics of speed and time, I realized that the center of the wheel only moves in
a straight, horizontal line with the speed equal to that of the bicycle a recognition that
directly coincide with my constant observations throughout the years. However, that
recognition just answers a little, simple part of my initial question what about the
movement of a point on the rim of the wheel? As time passed by, this question seemingly
disappeared from my mind as I seldom thought about it, and I would probably completely
forgot about them if I had not found this little story just some months ago, which
captivates me almost immediately. The story goes as followed:
In June 1696, Johann Bernoulli (1667 1748) proposed a problem that later is known as
The Brachistochrone problem. The problem is about finding a curve along which a
particle can move from the upper point to the lower point (the 2 points are on the same
vertical plane) in the shortest amount of time, under nothing but its own weight. Five
mathematicians responded to the problem, including Isaac Newton, Jakob Bernoulli
(Johanns brother), Gottfried Leibniz, Ehrenfried Walther Von Tschirnhaus and Guillaume
de l'Hpital. It is said that Newton found the problem in his mail when he arrived home
from the mint at 4 p.m., and stayed up all night to solve it and mailed the solution by the
next post. This shows how good Newton is, because for the same problem, it took Johann
himself 2 weeks to solve, only to come up with a marred solution because he did not take
into consideration all of the constants (D.T.Whiteside). The solution of the problem is the
cycloid (The Cycloid, 2012).
Of course, the story is so interesting to me because it involves a lot of famous scientists
and mathematicians of that time. It really makes me wonder just how important and
challenging this problem is so that it attracts such great people to solve it independently
from each other. Thus, I was very curious about this and finally decided to investigate
more about this specific curve the cycloid. To my surprise, the shape of this curve is
exactly the one questioned by me earlier the path of a point on the circumference of a
circle as the circle rolls along a straight line (The Cycloid, 2012).

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Introduction
As defined above, the cycloid is the path of a point on the circumference of a circle as the
circle rolls along a straight line (The Cycloid, 2012). The main aim of this exploration is to
investigate the properties of the cycloid; as such, I will not only focus on deriving the
Cartesian equation for a cycloid, but also consider other characteristics such as the area
under the curve. In order to do this, I will plot the vertical and horizontal displacements
on the y-axis and the x-axis of a graph respectively to see their relationship as well as
exploring other properties based on the analysis of the Cartesian grid. Moreover, I would
attempt to solve famous problems involving the cycloid such as the above
Brachistochrone problem whenever appropriate.
At the end of this exploration, I have succeeded in deriving the Cartesian equation for the
Cycloid and calculating the area under a cycloid arc. Additionally, I have successfully
proved that the cycloid is indeed a solution to the Tautochrone problem (the problem of
finding a curve down which a particle placed anywhere will fall to the bottom in the same
amount of time, under nothing but its own weight (Weisstein)), but I could not prove that
it is the only solution because it is beyond the IB syllabus. Nonetheless, in my exploration,
I have also successfully tested the tautochronous property of the cycloid by using a
computer simulation. Moreover, I have explored the application of this particular property
by exploring how this property can be used to improve the accuracy of a mechanical
clock. However, regarding the Brachistochrone problem, I could not prove that the cycloid
is the solution to the Brachistochrone problem since it is beyond the content of the IB
syllabus.
To project the shape of the cycloid, I decided to make some initial conditions: The radius
of the rolling circle is r >0 , the velocity of the circle rolling along the horizontal line is
v O > 0 . The circle will start rolling at such a position that the center O of the circle is at
(0,r) and the point A on the circumference of the circle is at A o = (0,0). The angle at which
point A is from its initial position A o with regards to the center O is radians, for which
0<< 2 (in other words, I will only investigate the first arc of the cycloid). The
movement of the circle is from left to right for convenience purpose. Important factors
affecting the movement of point A are the horizontal movement of every point on the
circle as well as the rotational movement of the point A as the circle rolls.
I would project the shape of the cycloid in my exploration by using the computer program
Autograph 3.3

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Object 1: A cycloid arc generated by a rolling circle (Surendran, The Cycloid)

Cartesian equation for cycloid

To derive a Cartesian equation for the cycloid, I decided to split the process into 2
sections: investigating the horizontal movement of the whole circle and investigating the
rotational movement of point A. After that, I would combine the 2 movements in a vectorlike manner to come up with the final equation of the cycloid.

Horizontal movement of the whole circle

Object 2: Horizontal movement of a cycloid

In the graph above, we are only concerned with the movement of the point O as the circle
rolls along the horizontal road. As abovementioned, the whole circle is rolling at the
velocity vo. In the following section, I will derive the horizontal and vertical displacements
of point O as a function of the time t. The horizontal displacement and vertical
displacement are labeled as

x O (t)

and

yO ( t )

respectively.

Since velocity is the derivative of displacement, we have:

d
x ( t )=vO
dt O
Page | 5

d x O ( t )=v O dt
x O= v O dt=v O t (1)
We can see that as time t passes, the circle moves a distant of
Hence, we have the graph below:

v O t

horizontally.

Object 3: The horizontal and rotational movements of point A

As time t passes, point A has rotated the angle relative to point O. As the circle rolls
a distant of v o t , point A also rotates a total distant of arc length A 1At. Moreover, we
also have:

arc length A 1 A t=r

Thus, we have:

v O t=r
Equation (1) now becomes:

x O=r (2)
For the vertical displacement of point O, we can clearly see that no matter the position of
the circle, point O is still r units above the x-axis. Thus, the vertical displacement of point
O after time t is a constant r , where r is the radius of the circle. We have:

y O=r (3)
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Therefore, we come to a conclusion that, after time

displacements are given by:

t , the horizontal and vertical

x O=r (2)
y O=r (3)

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Rotational movement of point A relative to point O

Object 3: The rotational movement of point A relative to point O

As seen in the graph above, I can divide the displacement of A relative to O into two
displacements: the horizontal displacement x AO and the vertical displacement y AO .
These 2 displacements can be expressed by:

x AO=r sin ( 4)
y AO=r cos (5)

The Cartesian equation for cycloid

We can combine the horizontal movement of point O and the rotational movement of
point A relative to point O to result in the Cartesian equation for the cycloid in the same
manner as adding vector; which, in this case, the equation will be:

x A=x O + x AO

( 2 ) + ( 4 ) x A=rr sin
y A = y O + y AO

( 3 ) + ( 5 ) y A =r r cos
In conclusion, the Cartesian equation for cycloid is:

x=rr sin (6)

y=r r cos (7)
Page | 8

Reflection on the process of deriving the equation

As abovementioned, one of my initial conditions is that the circle rolls at a constant speed
of v O . This seemingly becomes a problem because the circle does not necessary move
at a constant speed. However, if we take a look at the final Cartesian equation of the
cycloid (equations (6) and (7)), we can see that there are no v O and t presented.
This suggests that these 2 variables are not relevant in this case, and thus we dont need
this condition of the speed of the circle. In the following section, I will review on the
process of deriving the equation to see if this is indeed the case.
Indeed, the only time that I used
movement of point O:

vO

and

is when I worked out the horizontal

x O= v O dt=v O t (1)
However, I soon realized that
this, the two variables

vO

v O t=r
and

and thus

x O=r (2) . At any point after

are not important anymore to the process.

Therefore, instead of deriving the horizontal displacement

displacement

yA

xA

and the vertical

in term of time, the final equations for these two displacements are

derived in term of , which is independent of both time t and speed v O . However,

these 2 variables are still helpful to the process in the sense that they help us to visualize
the movement better, even though they do not contribute anything to the final result.

Page | 9

Area under a cycloid arc

Previously, we have these two equations:

x A=rr sin (6)

y A =rr cos (7)

d
x =r r cos
d A

d x A =( rr cos ) d
The area under the curve of a cycloid arc (limited by

=0

and

=2

is:

Area= y A d x A
0

r
2
2

( 22 r cos +r cos )d=r

(12cos +cos 2 )d
0

Area= ( rr cos ) ( rr cos ) d=

0

Area= 2 sin +
Area=r 2

sin 2
+
4
2

) (
=

3
sin 2
2sin +
2
4

([ 32 2 2 sin2 + sin44 )( 32 02 sin 0+ sin4 0 )]=r [(3 2 0+ 04 )(2 0+ 04 )]

2

Area=3 r 2
Regarding the area under a cycloid arc, there is a story involving another great scientist
as followed: Galileo Galilei (interestingly enough, also the one who named the curve
cycloid in 1599 (Robertson)) once attempted to find the area by comparing its area to
that of the generating circle. After failing to find a mathematical method he resorted to
weighing pieces of metal cut into the shape of the cycloid. He found that the ratio of the
weights was approximately 3 to 1 but decided that it was not exactly 3 because he
guessed that the ratio was not rational (Robertson).
This story immediately caught my attention, as I found it very astonishing that not only
Newton and the Bernoulli brothers were involved in the research of this special curve, but
Galileo -The father of Science (Weidhorn, 2007) himself was one of the very first men
Page | 10

that started the investigation on this amazing curve. It is worth noting that this attempt
was made before Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz discovered calculus in the 17 th
century (Burton). Surprisingly enough, this empirical method that was deemed wrong by
Galileo actually yielded correct answer as we can see above: the area under a cycloid
curve is 3 r 2 , exactly 3 times the area of the circle generating the cycloid (area of the
circle is

r2 )

The Brachistochrone curve and the

Tautochrone curve
The cycloid is also significant because it is the solution to the famous Brachistochrone
problem (the one Newton solved in one day) and the Tautochrone problem. The
Brachostochrone problem is the problem of finding a curve along which a particle can
move from the upper point to the lower point (on the same vertical plane) in the shortest
amount of time, under nothing but its own weight. (The Cycloid, 2012). The proof of this
problem is beyond the syllabus of IB, so I will not attempt to prove it. The Tautochrone
problem is the problem of finding a curve down which a particle placed anywhere will fall
to the bottom in the same amount of time, under nothing but its own weight (Weisstein). I
will not try to prove that the cycloid is the only solution to this problem because the proof
is also beyond the IB syllabus. Instead, in the following section, I will show that the
cycloid does satisfy the condition of the problem and thus, is a solution to the
Tautochrone problem.

Transforming the current Cartesian equation of the cycloid

As the Tautochrone problem deals with gravity, it is inappropriate for the current equation
of the cycloid because the curve is facing downward. Thus, I will transform the curve to a
more suitable one by reflecting it on the x-axis and then translating it upward by 2 r
units. It is worth noting that I only modify the y-value of the curve, so the x-value of the
curve is left unchanged.

------->

------->

Page | 11

Object 4: The transformation of the cycloid

The current y-value of the cycloid is given by y=r r cos (7) . After reflecting the
curve on the x-axis, the y-value becomes y=r cos r . After translating the curve by
2 r units upward, the y-value becomes y=r cos r +2 r=r+ r cos . Thus, the equation
of the new cycloid is:

x=rr sin (6)

y=r + r cos (8)

Initial conditions and definitions

Before proceeding, I will need to make some initial conditions and definitions. I will let the
point along the cycloid curve that the particle starts its movement be M 0=( x 0 , y 0) . This

M0

point can be any point between the highest point and the lowest point of the

cycloid and it is a fixed point. As the particle starts moving from the point
label the initial time as

t 0=0

fixed variables like the point

M 0 , I will

0 . These 2 variables are also

. The particle will move from M 0 to an intermediate

and the initial angle as

M0
M0

point
and the lowest point of the cycloid, where the
M =(x , y) between
coordinates of M (in other words, x and y ) are functions of : these values
of , x and y are the same variables as the one presented in the equations of the
cycloid above (equation (6) and (8)). The ranges of x and y are 0 x 2 r (from
equation (6)) and 0 y 2r (from equation (8)). The velocity of the particle at point
M is labeled as v and is a function of where v >0 . The time for the particle to
move from point M 0 to point M is labeled as t and is a function of . The
length of the curve

M 0 M >0

is labeled as

and is also a function of

We can derive from the information already presented that the angle at the lowest point
of the cycloid is (the middle point between the 2 limiting angles 0 and 2 ) and
the y-coordinate of this point is 0 . Also, at point M 0 , the particle just starts moving,
so the velocity of the particle at

M 0 is

v 0 =0 .

The time for the particle to move from point

M 0 to the lowest point of the cycloid is:

tlowest

T = dt
0

*Note: the variables v , t and s used in this section are completely different from
the one using above in the Cartesian equation for cycloid section.
Page | 12

Object 5: Graph showing the movement of the particle along the cycloid curve

Showing that the cycloid has the Tautochrone property

From earlier, we have:

x=rr sin (6)

y=r + r cos (8)

By taking the derivatives, we have:

dx
=rr cos =r (1cos )
d
dx=r (1cos )d

dy
=r sin
d
dy=r sin d
The curve length

is related to the 2 variables

ds= ( dx ) + ( dy ) = r 2 ( 1cos ) ( d ) +r 2 sin2 ( d )

2

and

by:

ds=r 12 cos +cos 2 + sin2 d=r 22 cos d( 9)

Page | 13

To proceed, we have to take into consideration the conservation of energy at all time of
the particle i.e. the loss in gravitational potential energy ( GPE=mgy ) of the particle by
moving from point

M0

to point

1
2

equals to the gain in kinetic energy ( KE= m v

) of the particle. We have:

KE= GPE

1
1
2
2
m v m v 0 =(mgymg y 0 )
2
2
1
m ( v 2v 02 ) =mg ( y 0 y )
2
v 2=2 g ( y 0 y )
v=

(since

v 0 =0 )

ds
= 2 g ( y 0 y )
dt

Applying equation (8) into the above equation, we have:

0
r +r cos

r +r cos

2g
ds
=
dt

cos 0 cos

2 gr

ds
dt=

Substitute equation (9) into the above equation, we have:

Page | 14


cos 0cos

2 gr

r 22cos d
dt=

At point

At the lowest point

t lowest

M0

Object 6: Variables converting table

The time for the particle to move from point

M 0 to the lowest point is:

tlowest

T = dt
0

T =
0

r
1cos

d
g
cos 0 cos

r
T =

1cos
d(10)
cos 0 cos

We have:

cos =12 sin2

( 2 )

1cos =2sin 2
cos =2 cos2

( 2 )(11)

( 2 )1( 12)
Page | 15

cos 0 =2 cos2

0
1(13)
2

( )

Substitute equations (11), (12), (13) into equation (10), we have:

T=

T =

T =

T =

2 sin 2

( 2 )

( ( ) )( () )

2 cos 0 1 2 cos2
1
2
2

g
0

g
0

2 sin 2

2cos 2 0 2 cos 2
2
2

( )

sin

( 2 )

( )
sin

()

cos2 0 cos2
2
2

( 2 )

()

( 2 )

cos2 0 cos 2
2
2

( )

d=(14)

()

Now let:

cos
u=
cos

( 2 )

( 2 )

du
=
d

1
cos

( 2 )
0

(
)
( 2) 2

sin

Page | 16

du
=
d

( 2 )

sin
2 cos

0
2

( )

2cos
d=
sin

( 2 ) du(15)
0

( 2 )

cos
u=

( 2 )

cos 0
2

( )

Object 7: Variables converting table

Substitute equation (15) into equation (14), we have:

T=

sin

g 1

cos

()

2 cos

0
2
cos
2
2

( )

()

sin

0
2

( ) du

( 2 )

(
2)
r
T =2

g cos ( )cos ( ) du
2 2
cos

0
1

Page | 17

T =2

g 0

0
2

du

( ) cos ( 2 )

cos ( ) cos ( )
2
2
cos

r
1
T =2

du
g 0 1u2
T =2

T =

[ ]

r ( 1 )
r
r

sin u =2
[ sin1 ( 1 )sin1 ( 0 ) ]=2
0
g
g
g
2
0
r
g

Because this is a constant, the particle takes exactly the same time to move from every
point M 0 along the curve to the lowest point of the cycloid. Thus, the cycloid is the
solution to the tautochrone problem.

Page | 18

Application of the cycloid

Using the Tautochronous property to improve mechanical
clocks
What does having the tautochronous property mean? It means that no matter what the
position of the particle is, it will fall to the bottom in the exact same amount of time:

r
. Now, we know that in a simple pendulum i.e. a bob attached by a thread to a
g

fixed point, the bob will circulate in a circular arc because the distance between the bob
and the fixed point is unchanged because it is the length of the thread. For a circular
pendulum, the period of oscillation (the time it takes for the bob to finish one complete
oscillation) is not perfectly independent of the amplitude (the maximum horizontal
displacement from the bob to the fixed point) i.e. for different starting points, the period
of oscillation will be different. Of course, in a frictionless world, this will not have any
effect on the period of oscillation of the cycloid because the amplitude is not affected.
However, in the real world, things do not work that way for there is air friction that will
affect the amplitude of the pendulum. This means that as time passes and friction
becomes more significant, the error in time will be larger.
So, the tautochronous property of the cycloid suggests that if we can somehow force the
bob of the pendulum to move in a cycloidal path rather than a circular path as of now, the
time period of the oscillation will be way more accurate. This is because as proven, the
time period of oscillation for a cycloidal path is a constant and is perfectly independent of
the amplitude. This means that even if there is air friction, it will not affect the period of
oscillation as no matter where the starting point is, the period will be a constant.
Christian Huygens (1629 1695) was the first person to come up with an ingenious idea
of how to force the bob to move in a up-side-down cycloidal path. He placed 2 metal
plates at the fulcrum of the pendulum, so that as the bob swings upward, the thread
winds along the plates, forcing the bob away from its natural circular path (The Cycloid,
2012). He then discovered that if the shape of the 2 metal plates is also a cycloid, then
the bob will trace the desired cycloidal pathway (Atkinson). Huygens first pendulum clock
was accurate to 1 minute a day; after working with the best clockmakers, he soon made
clocks that were accurate to 1 second a day (Michael R. Matthews).

Page | 19

Object 8: A circular pendulum (Pendulum)

cycloidal pendulum (Cycloid)

Object 9: A

Testing the tautochronous property using computer simulation

Aside from the above mathematical proof (in the Showing the cycloid has the
Tautochrone property section), I also use a computer simulation on the Internet to verify
my result (this simulation can be found at the website http://hom.wikidot.com/the-cycloid
(The Cycloid, 2012)).. At first, I set the initial amplitudes of both the cycloidal and the
circular pendulums at T = 4.12 s. Then Ill compare the time periods as time went on of
the 2 pendulums to see the similarities and differences between them, the first case is
without air resistance and the second case is with air resistance.
As expected, when there are no air resistance, both pendulums keep the same amplitude
and the time period as time went on. This is demonstrated in the pictures below:

Object 10: Circular and Cycloidal pendulums at 0 second without air resistance

Page | 20

Object 11: Circular and Cycloidal pendulums at 20.6 second (after 5 periods)
without air resistance
However, when I changed the setting of the simulation to include in air resistance, the
situation changes considerably. Specifically, the amplitudes of both pendulums decrease
as time went on. Additionally, while the time period of the cycloidal pendulum is kept
constant at 4.12 second, the time period of the circular pendulum decreases
considerably. This is demonstrated in the pictures below:

Object 12: Circular and Cycloidal pendulums at 0 second with air resistance

Object 13: Circular and Cycloidal pendulums at 20.6 second with air resistance
Object 13 shows the 2 pendulums after 20.6 seconds (after 5 periods of the cycloidal
pendulum). We can see that the bob of the cycloidal pendulum is at its highest point,
even though it cannot reach its initial height any more. This signifies that that even
though the amplitude of the cycloidal pendulum has decreased (it can no longer reach its
Page | 21

previous highest point due to the air resistance), its time period still remained constant at
4.12 second. Meanwhile, the simple pendulums time period has changed so much after
20.6 seconds that when the cycloidal pendulum completes 5 revolutions (and thus, its
bob is at the highest point in the left side of the equilibrium point), the bob of the circular
pendulum is actually on the right of the equilibrium point. Moreover, by this time, the
circular pendulum was currently on its 7 th period already (while the cycloidal pendulum
just completed its 5th period), signifying that the time period of the circular pendulum
does in fact decrease with the existence of air resistance. This agrees with my statement
that a cycloidal pendulum does indeed have the Tautchronous property, unlike the simple
circular pendulum, thus signifying that a cycloidal pendulum can in fact be used to
improve the accuracy of mechanical clocks.
Therefore, by using this computer simulation, I have successfully tested the reliability of
my model.

Page | 22

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