Edwin's Fabulous Four-Leaf Clover:

This space curve was produced using the following Maple commands:

> base_x:=sin(t)*sin(2*t);
> base_y:=cos(t)*sin(2*t);
> z:=0.2*sin(100*t);

                      base_x := sin(t) sin(2 t)


                      base_y := cos(t) sin(2 t)


                          z := .2 sin(100 t)

> dx:=diff(base_x,t):
> dy:=diff(base_y,t):
> T_x:=simplify(dx/sqrt(dx^2+dy^2));
> T_y:=simplify(dy/sqrt(dx^2+dy^2));

                                           2
                           sin(t) (3 cos(t)  - 1)
                T_x := ------------------------------
                                4           2     1/2
                       (3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1)


                                           2
                           cos(t) (3 cos(t)  - 2)
                T_y := ------------------------------
                                4           2     1/2
                       (3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1)

> dT_x:=diff(T_x,t):
> dT_y:=diff(T_y,t):
> N_x:=simplify(dT_x/sqrt(dT_x^2+dT_y^2));
> N_y:=simplify(dT_y/sqrt(dT_x^2+dT_y^2));

                                                            /
                        2            4           6        / |
N_x := cos(t) (12 cos(t)  - 15 cos(t)  + 9 cos(t)  - 4)  /  |
                                                        /   |
                                                            \

                                   /             2           4 2\1/2\
             4           2     3/2 |(2 - 3 cos(t)  + 3 cos(t) ) |   |
    (3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1)    |----------------------------|   |
                                   |         4           2     2|   |
                                   \(3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1) /   /


                                                             /
                         2            4           6        / |
N_y := - sin(t) (9 cos(t)  - 12 cos(t)  + 9 cos(t)  - 2)  /  |
                                                         /   |
                                                             \

                                   /             2           4 2\1/2\
             4           2     3/2 |(2 - 3 cos(t)  + 3 cos(t) ) |   |
    (3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1)    |----------------------------|   |
                                   |         4           2     2|   |
                                   \(3 cos(t)  - 3 cos(t)  + 1) /   /

> x:=base_x+0.1*(N_x*cos(100*t)+N_y*sin(100*t)):
> y:=base_y+0.1*(N_x*sin(100*t)+N_y*cos(100*t)):
> with(plots):
> spacecurve([x,y,z],t=0..2*Pi,numpoints=2000,axes='NORMAL',
>   scaling='CONSTRAINED',thickness=2,orientation=[-80,40]);

SFU / Math & Stats / ~hebron / math252 / assignments / sol03 / studentcurves / edwin.html

Revised 11 Feburary 1999 by John Hebron.