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Questions tagged [brachistochrone-problem]

the problem of finding the path between two points such that the transit time under specified conditions is minimized.

4 votes
3 answers
5k views

In the brachistochrone problem and in the tautochrone problem it is easy to see that a cycloid is the curve that satisfies both problems. If we consider $x$ the horizontal axis and $y$ the vertical ...
roy's user avatar
  • 183
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

This recent question about holes dug through the Earth led me to wonder: if I wanted to dig out a tube from the north pole to the equator and build a water slide in it, which shape would be the ...
Mark Eichenlaub's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
3k views

Recalling the statement of the problem : Given two points A and B in a vertical plane, what is the curve traced out by a point acted on only by gravity, which starts at A and reaches B in the ...
Himanshu's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Asume we have a particle sitting at the point A(0,0) in a gravitational field. (g=9.81) It is going to move along some path to the point B(a,b) Where a>0 and b<0. What is the curve the particle ...
N3buchadnezzar's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
10k views

The brachistochrone problem asks what shape a hill should be so a ball slides down in the least time. The tautochrone problem asks what shape yields an oscillation frequency that is independent of ...
Mark Eichenlaub's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

Cycloid is a type of trajectory which is traced by a point on the circumference of a planar circle rolling without slipping on a surface. It turns out that this is the solution to the Brachistochrone ...
kbakshi314's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
996 views

I wonder how I can solve the Brachistochrone problem for 3 points? The matter starts from point A that is the highest point and it must pass from B and must finish with point C. (No any friction in ...
Mathlover's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
1k views

I was at my son's high school "open house" and the physics teacher did a demo with two curtain rail tracks and two ball bearings. One track was straight and on a slight slope. The beginning and end ...
Colin Warwick's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
2k views

This question Brachistochrone Problem for Inhomogeneous Potential has the obvious extension. Namely the same question, when gravity is treated according to general relativity. To make it specific let'...
MBN's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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The following is a specific instance of the brachistochrone problem, which I first encountered in grad school, and I have occasionally used as hw problem in teaching CM. A particle is started from ...
Thomas's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
2k views

The experiment shown in the image suggests that ball B will reach the goal faster than ball A although the balls have identical properties and they start from the same height. The authors even ...
Flo Ryan's user avatar
  • 143
2 votes
2 answers
403 views

Just for fun, I am working through some problems in Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics by Byron and Fuller. Problem 2.13 reads: Prove that a particle moving under gravity in a plane from a ...
OmnipotentEntity's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
8k views

So I saw this gif the other day, and was wondering, is this real or fake? And supposing there is no energy dissipated by the friction, why does such thing occur?
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