A cycloid is a curve generated by a point in the plane of a circle when the circle is rolled along a straight line and kept always in the same plane. The genesis of the common cycloid may be conceived by imagining a nail in the circumference of a wheel; the curves which the nail describes while the wheel runs forward are cycloids. The cycloid is the curve of swiftest descent, that is, a heavy body descending by the force of its own gravity will move from one point of this curve to any other point in less time than it will take to move in any other curve which can be drawn between these points. Also, a body falls through any arc of an inverted cycloid in the same time whether the arc be great or small. The cycloid is very important in the higher branches of mechanics. Research Cycloid
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Abbreviations
SciTech
Research Cycloid
